Typical teenagers normally go through a stressful period due to certain life circumstances they are in. Apart from the pangs of growing-up due to physical and psychological changes that they have to face, there are a lot of concerns and pressures that they have to tackle, and there may be concrete reasons for them to be stressed about.

Experts say that teen stress management is not entirely about management alone. It ought to focus on love and mutual respect. If you are a parent, it all boils down to your response to one significant question - How much do I love my teen? If you do love your teen, you ought to know him/her, and if you know him/her, you should be able to understand him/her; therefore there is no need to manage anything, because, as people say, love will take care of the rest.

However, prior to discussing teen stress management, parents should be aware about the types of pressures that a normal teen is likely to encounter in society, First on the list is peer pressure- such as pressures to try out smoking, drinking and even drugs. Teens may also face pressure from problems related to their studies and school. Finally, some parents may not be aware that their teenager may already be experiencing stress due to issues within the family. The problems may be related to strained relations between parents or the family may be going through a crisis.

Parents who are struggling to contend with the issues of teen stress management ought to know that there’s a lot that they can do. They must be cognizant of the fact hat there are a lot of things that a teenager has to learn, and even if they don’t speak up, they look up to their parents for guidance and support.

First and foremost, parents need to understand the fact that their teen is born into a society which is quite different from the one they were born into. As such, the resolution of issues that their teen faces cannot be realized as long as they insist on seeing those issues from their own point of view. There is such a thing as “empathy” which parents must have these days. This means that they should try to understand and enter into their teen’s feelings. Without it, any advice would sound generic, authoritarian and trumped up.

The parental approach to teen stress management should rely upon family dynamics. The home should be a place where the teenager feels safe and secured. The home should be perceived by the teen as a place of refuge where there are people who understand and care about whatever it is that they are going through. Parents should value their relations with their teen and cherish it as something precious. Once parents earn the trust and respect of their teens, then everything would fall into their proper perspective.