In recent years, it has become increasingly clear[1] that children suffer from stress at school and that this is becoming a bigger problem. Stress is not healthy for adults, and for children and adolescents, stress can have long-term consequences in how you deal with stress. Therefore, it is important to address stress at school or stress due to school.
Stress at school, causes
There can be all kinds of issues that cause school stress in children. For example, if a child is less intelligent and comes from a family with low family quality, this can create more stress[2].
So the bonds within a family are very important for stress development at school in children who have below-average IQs.
Boys are also more likely to experience stress in school regardless of the family they come from.
The homework you are given can also increase stress.
The sound of airplanes can also cause more stress in children[3], so if the elementary school is near an airport it can be cause for stress at school.
The fear of failing in school can also cause stress.
Trouble in school is, of course, also a cause[4].
Not enough sleep can also cause stress in school, as it reduces concentration.
How do you know if your child is suffering from stress at school?
When your child suffers from stress at school, they may suffer from the following symptoms[5]:
Stress in elementary school
Stress in elementary school can come from having difficulty keeping up with classes or developing well socially with your classmates. Maybe you are getting homework for the first time which causes you to not be able to go play right after school to get rid of the stress again making it at a bearable level.
Typically, stress in elementary school children may indicate a disorder that has not yet been discovered, such as dyscalculia or dyslexia.
Stress in high school
High school can bring other stresses. In high school, children/pubers want to belong to a group. Developing friendships is very important.
Social media then often takes on a larger role in a child's life and that can create the fear of missing out and not being at the important events and having missed something can then feel very bad. Or not having the perfect life that classmates seem to have.
Then in high school you often have the question of "what do you want to be later on?" which needs to be answered because you have to choose a certain profile with subjects that fit your future job or studies you want to pursue.
This is even though at that age, you are often far from knowing what you want to become.
In the process, as an adolescent, you want to be taken seriously and so you suddenly "have to" act like an "adult." Which can feel inauthentic and therefore can cause stress because you are constantly acting out.
Then you can also "have" too many hobbies. Your parents require you to be able to play a musical instrument and your parents require you to participate in a sport. This can cause you to be stressed by that as well, instead of reducing stress[7].
Stress in school: figures
The end of elementary school and certainly testing during high school can also cause stress, especially if parents are eager for their child to take on the highest level[8].
Tips to combat stress in school
There are all kinds of things you can do as a child/pupil to combat stress at school, and parents can also help reduce stress.
What you can do yourself as a child/pupil
There are all sorts of things you can do yourself to reduce stress. Below is a list.
Tip #1: Yoga
Yoga[9] is a physical form of meditation that can reduce stress hormones. Doing an hour of yoga weekly and 10 minutes daily can reduce the amount of stress tremendously.
Tip 2: Improve self-confidence
This can be very difficult, but in school you mostly see what you are not good at because people start complaining about it, and you are less able to see what you are actually good at. This is often taken more for granted.
By focusing on what is going well, you can actually build your self-confidence. For example, every night go over what went well that day at school. This doesn't even have to have to do with a subject, it can also have to do with the fact that you did something nice for a friend. In that case, you are good with people.
Do you find it difficult to shift your focus to what you're good at or find that you're not good at anything? If so, a hypnotherapist can help you improve your self-confidence.
For example, your self-confidence can be improved by repeating suggestions while under hypnosis that make you stronger. Because you do this while under hypnosis, these suggestions also penetrate you more deeply. These can be suggestions such as:
"I have my personal talents."
"I am good the way I am."
"Friends are people who accept me as I am."
"My grades say nothing about my value as a person," he said.
"I get to do things wrong."
These are just examples. Depending on what stresses you out through school, you may get other suggestions. They also work better under hypnosis than if you read them off a screen.
Tip 3: Improve self-control
Another way to reduce stress is to improve your self-control. This involves, for example, self-control to stop procrastination, which reduces stress from homework.
One way a hypnosis expert can help you with this is through post-hypnotic suggestions. Perhaps you have a pattern of coming home after school and then enjoying gaming or going out on the town with friends. If you actually want to do your homework right away, so this doesn't gnaw at the back of your mind while you're beating a final boss and stressing you out, a hypnosis expert can break this pattern with you.
For example, you first visualize how you tell your friends you can't go with them because you are going to do homework. This is so it's easier to say no and to make an alternative appointment for the evening, for example.
A post-hypnotic suggestion then helps you when you get home not to go gaming, but to do homework. This can be a suggestion such as:
"From this moment on, when you get home after school. Have a drink and something healthy to eat and go do the homework you were given that day."
Because you get this suggestion while you are under hypnosis, you take it in deeper, making it easier to actually do it. It can even happen naturally.
Tip 4: Change Mindset for Less Burden
Improving self-control is also about choosing your mindset. For example, you may be stressed by something and therefore become cranky or start thinking very negatively. For example, you may think "I'm too stupid" to do it.
The self-control about choosing your mindset is being aware of that negative thought and being able to redirect the thought to something more positive, such as:
"I don't understand how to do this yet."
With that, you immediately open up the possibilities of finding out what you need to do to get it right, and it can even motivate you better.
If you find it difficult to change your mindset, hypnosis can help you with that.
Tip 5: Visualize a nice place
Another way to reduce stress with hypnosis is to visualize being in a nice place and how that place takes the stress and tension out of your body. A hypnosis expert can help you with this. This usually involves asking about places you like or seem to like, such as a place you've been on vacation or seen in a movie (or game).
With a guided visualization, you are then helped to relax. You can take this guided visualization and other hypnosis suggestions with you on mp3 to listen to at home to reduce stress at school.
Sure, it's a little hard to daydream at school, but all these techniques at home are going to help you in school, too.
As parents, the best thing you can do is support your child and be positive. Of course, you can also learn hypnosis so you can help your child with hypnosis yourself.
Want to know how hypnosis works and if you can hypnotize people? Then come to free online master class .
Want to learn directly how to help yourself or others with hypnosis? Then come to one of our events or register directly for one of our trainings.
[1] https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1MSNA_enNL708NL708&biw=1745&bih=881&tbm=nws&ei=kX49XfiXCoiiwAKIzLyQBw&q=%22stress+op+school%22&oq=%22stress+op+school%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3…10100.11965.0.12226.2.2.0.0.0.0.195.363.0j2.2.0….0…1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0….0.q_tazWdPKdA
[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1988.tb00751.x
[3] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9280.00014
[4] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1468-2982.1985.0503167.x
[5] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0743558401163003
[6] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(2000)26:1%3C57::AID-AB5%3E3.0.CO;2-I
[7] https://www.webmd.com/special-reports/kids-and-stress/20150827/what-you-can-do
[8] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01443410020019867
[9] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891524511000551
