Junior year is considered the most stressful high school year for many reasons: tougher courses, grades that count towards college, the SAT, and anxiety about the future.
"It's kind of stressful knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life," says Krista. "I mean, I have no idea."
Experts recommend three ways for parents to ease the stress of junior year. First, set limits on extra-curricular activities.
"She has lacrosse right now," says Krista's mom Janice, "and I've limited both her and her sister to one sport at a time, because it was just getting too crazy."
Another stress-reliever for juniors may be surprising, but it is considered critical – socializing.
"Anytime they are hanging out with their friends is stress management," says clinical psychologist Dr. Andy Blatt. "They call it 'hanging out'. Parents sometimes call it 'doing nothing'. It's okay. Just try and look at it in the way that it's stress management."
There is something to be said for just letting kids be kids. My own kids are both still under two years old, so I don't know what it's like to raise teenagers who have lots of options when it comes to activities, but I can imagine that I, too, would be tempted as a parent to encourage my teen to be in several activities at a time.
Related to this is a wonderful book I read last year from ESPN Books: Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children by Tom Farrey. It's definitely a great read for parents and youth workers. Farrey really takes a look at how we push kids way too hard to be successful at sports at an early age, and I think it applies to other "skill" activities as well, such as music.
