Signs of Stress in Children – Stress is not only experienced by adults, but can also affect children. The stress experienced by children will have a negative impact, such as causing physical, emotional or mental illness. Therefore, as a parent it is important to recognize the signs of stress child, as well as causes and tips to help deal with stress in children.
Causes of Child Stress
Apart from adults, children can also experience stress. Stress in children can be triggered by various things. Among them are as follows:
Lack of sleep
Children need adequate rest time, especially if they do strenuous activities during the day or at school. Make sure your little one gets enough rest time and doesn’t get enough sleep. The reason is, lack of sleep in children will have an impact on their mood, memory, and ability to judge. When it’s time for a break, it’s best to avoid gadgets or keep children away from the television.
After School Activities
Parents sometimes do not realize that children’s activities at school are draining their energy. However, because they want to give the best for their children, it is not uncommon for parents to still enter courses or tutoring after school. This can actually trigger fatigue in children. After school hours, your little one doesn’t have time to play and relax. Conditions like this will risk stressing children.
You should give children the opportunity to relax. You may want to cut back on some of your after-school activities. However, if the activity cannot be reduced, you can ask your little one’s feelings about the activity. By venturing, it is expected to be able to relieve stress that children experience
Intimidation
Bullying experienced by children, whether verbal or nonverbal, will risk stressing the child. You should provide support to children so that they feel more confident in going through the days when they are in their environment or school. To monitor the condition experienced by children, you can communicate with the teacher.
Parents Divorce
For children, he will feel safer when he is with his family. However, when her parents decide to separate, her life will undergo major changes. Parental divorce can be stressful and stressful for children.
Chronic Illness
Children will experience stress if they experience heavy things such as for example their parents have a serious illness, or even themselves suffer from the disease. Serious conditions that can stress children for example HIV, obesity, asthma, Down syndrome and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). If the child experiences this condition, the child may be isolated from the association because he has to undergo treatment.
Exposure to Adult Content
Various information can be obtained easily along with advances in technology and knowledge. Because like that, children may be exposed to adult information or content such as violent videos, scary news or pornographic videos. This will put your child at risk of stress. Therefore, parents should be advised to choose content that is suitable for children or you can be with them.
Signs of Stress in Children
Children in general are unable to express or understand what they are feeling. They will not even realize that what they are experiencing is stress. Therefore, it is important to recognize signs of stress in children. (Also read: Healthy Child Diet )
Negative Behavior Appears
You have to pay attention to the child’s attitude these days. Pay attention to whether your little one shows changes in behavior such as being irritable, complaining frequently, getting irritated, crying easily and being rebellious. If that’s the case, maybe your little one is under stress.
In addition, children may lie frequently as a sign of stress in children, and violate house rules. For example, playing late at night or not wanting to do homework that is already his responsibility.
Sick
If the stress that the child is experiencing is serious enough, the child will usually experience physical symptoms. Your little one may experience dizziness, headaches, or stomach aches. However, when taken to the doctor, the child is not suffering from a disease. Where these symptoms are the child’s body’s reaction to the stress they are experiencing.
Easily Fear
One sign of stress in a child is that he suddenly feels scared. Children are afraid of the dark, become spoiled because they are afraid of being left by their parents and are afraid to face strangers. This is even more so if your previous child was a brave child. If it is like this, the stress experienced by the child is serious enough.
Changes in the child’s appetite
Due to stress, children will experience changes in their appetite. Your little one’s appetite can increase or decrease drastically, which is a sign of stress in children. When a child’s appetite decreases, your little one may reason that he doesn’t want to eat or the food doesn’t taste good. Meanwhile, if your little one’s appetite increases, he will eat more, snack often and get hungry easily even though he has already eaten.
Reluctant to Associate with the Surrounding Environment
The next sign of stress in children is reluctance to hang out with those around them. When children are stressed, children will prefer to be alone than join the people around them. Children will avoid interactions from friends or family. You can pay attention to your little one when you invite him to talk or ask questions. Does your little one shy away when you talk to him, refuse to go out together or often spend time alone in the room? If like that, your little one could be under stress.
Children have difficulty sleeping
When under stress, we usually have trouble sleeping. Likewise with children or adolescents who are experiencing stress. Not only is it difficult to sleep as a sign of stress in children, children who are stressed will usually fly around in the middle of the night, either because their sleep is uncomfortable or because they have nightmares.
Difficult to Concentrate
Because the burden is borne your little one may feel overwhelmed, as a result the child will find it difficult to concentrate. Either when he studied at school or even when listening to orders from his parents.
You have to pay attention to the attitude and behavior of the child. If the child’s gaze tends to be blank or even looks down more often, it is a sign that the child is no longer concentrating on what he is doing.
Bedwetting
If the child has stopped bedwetting, but the habit suddenly comes back, it could be that your little one is stressed. Children who are stressed will usually carry out various habits that they had when they were young. In addition to bedwetting, children may return to their old habits, such as sucking their fingers or not letting go of their favorite doll.
Tips for Helping Children Under Stress
Children still have no experience, and their brain capacity is still not optimal. Therefore, a child does not have the ability to find solutions to the stress he experiences. So that with that, it takes help from adults in helping to overcome their difficulties so that the stress experienced by children will not be prolonged.
If your child is experiencing stress, you should avoid excessive panic because if you panic you will likely experience stress too. Well, you can do some of these things to help relieve stress in children.
Avoid Making Excessive Claims
Every parent would want their children to achieve the best. However, you should avoid setting targets that cannot be achieved by children. Also avoid comparing your child with other people and don’t criticize him. You have to accept your child’s strengths and weaknesses. If the child fails to meet the demands made by you, you have to accept it, don’t mock or punish him. You should help him get better.
Improve Parenting
If all this time you have let your child free or are actually authoritarian, you should change your parenting style so that he doesn’t feel burdened by the demands you give.
It’s better if you give it clear rules. The reason you provide these rules and what consequences will your little one get if these rules are violated. When children do positive things, don’t forget to give them praise. However, when a child commits an offense, you can discipline him or give him a warning, and also provide an explanation why you gave him a warning.
Creating a Harmonious Family
Harmonious family relationships will make children feel more comfortable and at home at home, and will help children avoid bad associations that can cause problems that will stress them out. In addition, if the family relationship is harmonious then quarrels or divorces can be avoided which can stress the child.
Create closeness with children
The closeness between parents and children will help children open up to their parents, and will more freely tell their complaints to parents. Children will find it easier to tell the events they have experienced, either pleasant events or unpleasant events, whether at school or outside the home. As a parent, you can help the child to provide the best solution or take action so that unpleasant events can be avoided by the child.
Forming Independent Children
You can help children to become independent individuals. Train your child in making the right decisions that are needed. For example, when children ask whether the action they took was good or not, you can invite the child to discuss what was the good or negative thing when the child did the action. This method will help the child to be independent if in the future he has to make decisions without any help from parents. Independent children will find it easier to solve their problems, and overcome their discomfort so that it can help prevent stress in children.
Providing flexibility for children
You can give flexibility to children. For example, flexibility in determining the course or tutoring that will be followed. Let your child channel his hobbies so that he won’t be confined and stressed.
Apply a Healthy Lifestyle
Nutritional intake has an effect on stress in children. Therefore, you can serve nutritious food for children. Get used to also so that children eat regularly and on time. To help children get enough sleep, it’s best to make a good schedule for children. (See also: Adverse Effects of Stress on the Brain )
Risk of Stress in Children
If your child is already showing symptoms or signs of stress as mentioned above, you should not ignore the condition. Stress in children if allowed to have long-term negative effects. In addition, children will be more susceptible to mental disorders, such as depression.
Stress will make him experience changes in diet, so that as a result the child will be at risk of malnutrition or being overweight. In addition, another impact that may be experienced by children is the decrease in achievement at school because children cannot concentrate while studying. To help her, you can talk to her about the pressures children often face. You must be able to understand the child’s situation and find the best solution. However, if the stress doesn’t go away, you can consult a child & family counseling expert.
This article is reviewed by Midwife Pevi Revina sTR. Keb
