Pushy Parents and Stressed Out Kids

Posted by: Cathy Arnst on February 06, 2006

I’m raising my child in one of the most competitive cities in the world, so even though I claim to resist the temptations of the pressure cooker (I often joke that I am the only parent in New York who doesn’t have a “gifted child”)—I still stress out over every report card. Most of you likely have the same problem. If so, check out a three part series running on wwww.Ivanhoe.com (a medical news website): Positive Pushing. As the parent of a second grade, I could relate to this excerpt:

The pressure starts young.

“It seems like with some parents, nothing is ever enough. I mean, what’s wrong with doing second grade work in second grade? There’s always third grade next year,” says parent Pete Christiansen.

The article covers parental pressure over school, sports and career, and offers some useful advice on how to ease up if you, or your kids, have a little too much of a Type A personality. If you want more help, check out Stanford University’s Stressed Out Students project, a source of research and workshops on the subject. Of course, there is always the danger that we will start stressing out over the fact that we are stressing out—it’s a vicious cycle, this parenting.

And if you’ve figured out how to relax a little—or you’ve gotten your kids to—please, share.

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