AP classes, varsity sports, volunteer hours, jobs, ACTs, college applications, campus tours.
Make it stop. Or at least dial it back a little.
That's the advice for parents of juniors in high school coming from professionals who have been dealing with teenagers for years. They say they're seeing pressure hitting crisis levels at this age, and it isn't good.
"I usually get a big rush of kids at the second half of junior year," says Jody Schreiber, a family and teen therapist for 20 years. "Right out of the gate you're starting your fall activities, you're starting your ACT tutoring one or two times a week. I've literally had kids in my office just absolutely melting down because they got a 29 on their ACT."
She also says that it's the one year that is probably the most important in terms of grades. "Then on top of it, everyone is asking them what kind of school are you looking at, where are you going to look at schools, so parents are planning these weekends of going to look at schools."
Many teenagers have been functioning this way for so long, Schreiber says, that it gets to be so much, it's literally throwing off their brain chemistry.
"They're really struggling, tends to be the anxiety depression stuff, but to the point where we're looking at medication at that point because they are not able to function well." Schreiber goes on to say the depression and anxiety this pressure can trigger, can last years. So, she says the best bet is to deal with it now.
Schreiber suggests being brave enough to take things off the family plate, whether that's a sport or an AP level class. "You can be successful," Schreiber says, "but if you end up struggling with a mental illness you're going to end up with nothing that you've worked for."
