Kevin Callahan
kevinc@isb.ac.th
As we near the end of the first semester (now six weeks away) the stress on students is at a high level. They get it from school obligations, from friends (it’s a collaborative environment at ISB but students can’t help but compare grades, performance, etc. with each other), parents (expectations from home are often higher than what is realistic), and from themselves, having internalized parental and societal expectations of what “success” means. More and more, we are seeing that these definitions of success don’t coincide with happiness and fulfillment, and it makes students sad and gives them a sense that they are letting their parents and others down, even when they are doing the best that they can.
It’s harder than ever to be a young person in this day and age of electronic media. Please work with your student to keep their stress at a reasonable level. Here is a good article that can help you reflect on how to help your student keep things in proper perspective, and to understand your role in keeping your child healthy and their self-esteem intact. It applies to young people of all ages, but for high schoolers, look closely at numbers 1,3,5,6, and 7.
https://psychcentral.com/lib/7-tips-for-helping-your-child-manage-stress/
In the end, we all want the same things for our children – that they are happy, productive and successful. If your student is experiencing an amount of stress that you feel is affecting their well-being, please don’t hesitate to contact their counselor for a chat about how we can help.