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Proper sleep, diet, fewer activities can ease kids’ stress

By Tim Brust
Special to The Times
Adults battle stress. The problems they have are well documented, and the effects can be profound.

But what about children?

While some stress is OK, doctors, parents and teachers are beginning to understand that youngsters face pressures similar to those of adults that have just as serious physical and mental consequences.

Karen Waller, guidance counselor at Belpre Middle School, said she’s seen stress among kids become more and more frequent as home life and school life have gotten more demanding.

She said children today face many more potential sources of stress compared to kids of a generation or two ago.

“The pace of their life is a lot faster,” she said.

Waller said she believes social stress — the pressure to have friends, to look the right way and to act the right way — accounts for a large portion of kids’ stress.

The pressure, she said, begins earlier for today’s kids, around the fifth grade.
Waller said public schools usually don’t have programs designed specifically to deal with stress or help relieve it for kids. She said teachers’ expectations and testing are sometimes part of the problem.

Harry Fleming, director of instruction for Marietta City Schools, said teachers and administrators realize proficiency and other standardized testing are sources of stress for children. He said strategies to minimize it include ensuring students get enough sleep, eat properly and are prepared.

“That’s the best thing they can do to relieve stress,” he said.

Waller said physical activity — on the playground or during physical education — may help as well.

Waller said children growing up today often have too many activities battling for their time. She suggests parents try to limit their children’s schedules to avoid stress. She also said it’s good to talk to kids about their problems and concerns during a non-stress time. Often, she said, parents and children don’t talk with each other about those issues until something goes wrong. Then, discussions are often heated and nonproductive.

The Washington Education Association recommends sitting down with children suffering from stress to find out which activities are the most important and which can be dropped and help them deal with the stress through physical activity and relaxation.

The association says listening to how kids describe their problems is also a key. They may perceive things to be a larger concern than they really are.