Thursday, February 08, 2007

too much

in a previous post, i mentioned a kid i know that dropped out of school because of all the stress he was feeling. he is home schooling himself and taking classes at the local community college so he will continue his education. but, hopefully, in a less stressful way.

a couple other accounts come to mind. i know a young lady who is a top notch student and person. she's an excellent athlete playing soccer for a club team and her high school. she got involved with student council this last year. she's very social and everyone loves her. well, she was just caught cheating on a math test. this was so unlike her.

when asked why she did it she said it was because of all the pressure - the expectations that she felt has been put upon her. she didn't know the answers and has been telling the teacher, the school, and her parents that she didn't understand what they were trying to teach her. in hindsight, she thought that everything would come to a head by doing what she did. she said she expected to get caught.

another girl i know has decided not to try out for cheerleading next year. she will be a senior and has been a cheerleader the other three years of high school. she also has been a part of student council and just dropped out of that at the semester break. she just feels like it's too much to handle. she wants to simplify her life and cut down on the stress. here's someone who loves cheerleading but realized she needed to cut something out of her life and schedule.

it's the same way for my son. he's involved in several things - all good stuff. but all of them demanding in themselves. put them all together and it just gets to be too much. and what is a parent to do? we try very hard not to put any other stress on him but that's not always easy or realistic. he still needs to have responsibilites here at home. i don't know what the answer is. i guess as we go through this journey, i'll blog more about it and see if any answers arise.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

school stress

sorry i haven't blogged for awhile. hopefully, i'm back on track.

one reason i haven't written lately is that my own son has been struggling with stress and the demands that have been put upon him. i won't go into a lot of detail because it's personal and he'd kill me if he knew i was even writing this.

so what i will say is that he is in advanced classes in school and it's just been too much. he's a bright kid and has been committed to the heavy workload, but his limit has been hit. i think i've written about this before... i don't understand why schools/teachers give such a heavy work load to their students. it's like each teacher thinks that his/her class is the only one their student has. so they load up on the work like the kid has nothing better to do.

what about sports? what about other school activities such as drama or yearbook? what about work? what about church? what about a girl friend or boyfriend? what about friends? what about FAMILY? what about having a life?

how about giving the students a work load that makes them want to do the homework and projects and want to come to class each day. how about giving them something that encourages them to enjoy school. i think so many kids drop out just because they feel like they can't handle it all.

i'll write more tomorrow about some individual stories of kids i know. if you're a student, i'd love to hear your opinion on this subject.

About me

  • I'm youthworker4all
  • From colorado, United States
  • i am a youthworker. it's not what i do - it's who i am. i am passionate about helping today's teenagers find their way through their world. i wish more adults understood this world and would reach out to our youth. what a different world this would be.
My profile