Tag: Parent Engagement

Student Burnout | How Academic Pressure Causes High-Level Anxiety

Parents Beware: “If You Are Not Ahead, You Are Behind” Is Not a Good Mental Health Strategy

When it comes to high school, nowadays, students struggle to cope with their daily schedule. Recently, I had a parent orientation meeting at the start of a new school term. One of my student’s parents shares that her kid has fallen behind on other assigned projects due to her pending physics assignments. Although she has given up her summer holidays to finish the pending class tasks, she still lagged behind. All this havoc in her academic life made her less engaged with family and friends. She is not getting her timely sleep and even having anxiety attacks over small matters. However, her parents are still adamant that if they set her up extra home tuitions for physics in the evening, she might be able to compete with the class flow. Unfortunately, this kind of situation is becoming more and more common nowadays, and students feel less motivated than usual and more exhausted and irritable due to academic burnout. Continue reading “Student Burnout | How Academic Pressure Causes High-Level Anxiety”

Teen Depression | Are You Feeling Suicidal?

Adolescent suicides are preventable. What parents and educators should know about the reasons, the warning signs and the preventive steps that can protect their teens?

Last week, one of my friends shared an unexpected incident with me about her twelve-year-old niece. She used to maintain a diary in which she takes notes about her daily activities and reflections. One day, her mother was shocked to read some of the entries from her diary where she mentioned that “…I think my life is empty as nobody, even my mother, understands me…I think I should kill myself.” This journal entry of a twelve-year-old gives us a clear look at what kind of stress our teenagers are going through especially when they are confining to their homes, socially distant from their friends and relatives. However, the much-needed question is, are parents aware of how to handle such kind of circumstances? Or what steps parents should take to mitigate the risk? Continue reading “Teen Depression | Are You Feeling Suicidal?”

What It’s Like To Be A Teenager During The Times Of Pandemic?

What new challenges young people face in the era of Covid? What parents (adults) should know about these challenges?

Many of the students recently shared their post-Covid experiences with me during their new term orientation last week. However, the majority of them share a similar phrase, ‘Parents just don’t understand’. Although, this phrase is an old refrain, in present time it has a new definition. I sensed from my students’ reflections that they think their parents should be aware of their challenging moments. As most teenagers are now cut off from schools, their friends, sports, hobbies and everything else that filled their pre-pandemic days, the parent-child relationship is now under more stress than ever.

Jessica Grose, a journalist and novelist at NY Times, writes about parenting adolescents’ challenges in one of her articles ‘ The Hardest Fight to Have With Your Teen.’

‘I have long thought that it might be the hardest for parents of teenagers when it comes to being a parent in the pandemic. Parents of little ones can meet most of our children’s social needs, and our kids still kind of want to be around us. Not so for parents of teens….’ Continue reading “What It’s Like To Be A Teenager During The Times Of Pandemic?”

What Is Digital Dating Abuse and How It Impacting Today’s Teen?

Majority of the teens have become the target of cyberbullying due to online dating, with ‘name-calling and rumour-spreading’ being the most common form of harassment.

Nowadays, technology becomes an integral aspect of our daily routine, and our lives become more exposed to cyberspace than before. When there is a hope that in the era of social distancing, technology can minimise the physical distance and provide a sense of empathy, there is also a risk that the same technology may deteriorate individual’s privacy and freedom. Since March 2020, I received 2 cases of Cyberbullying and one case of Cyber-Dating Abuse. Moreover, a massive increase in cyber abuse cases in India and Pakistan has been seen since the Covid-19 closure. Alone Pakistan has a tremendous 189% increase in cyber-harassment cases since April 2020. There are loads of researches available on the topic of Cyberbullying, and you can Google it at your ease. However, in this short article, I will discuss two critical questions that, I believe, every teen and parent should ask before engaging in any sort of online social activity. Why and how teenagers around the world, including Pakistan, are becoming more prone to cyber harassment than before? What is Digital Dating Abuse, and how it affects me or my kid’s social development? Continue reading “What Is Digital Dating Abuse and How It Impacting Today’s Teen?”

The Goose and The Golden Egg – Inspirational Short Stories Series (Chapter: 4)

How Can We Shift Our Teen’s Habits from Greed to Gratitude?

Recently, I engage in a healthy discussion with my students while teaching them on Google Classroom. The topic was to how we can contribute to the social wellbeing of our neighbours and our surrounding people. Interestingly, may students come up with creative ideas like calling them, try to talk to them, listening to their issues and concerns, through time and knowledge etc. One student questioned, why sometimes people feel reluctant to share their skills and goodness with others? This idea of demanding less and sharing more makes me think why sometimes destroy our chances and valuable resources to an unprofitable action motivated by our greed.

In a world driven by consumerism and worldly desires, teens are much more demanding than the previous generation. The demands can be of any form, from securing more marks in an academic paper than earning more money in an average job. Whenever the word ‘a little bit more’ comes in our mind, it means we are not happy with what we are actually having. The urge to possess more always leads an individual to an uneasy path of greed and stress. Resulting in losing the resources that we already owned. The story of goose and the golden egg is the age-old Continue reading “The Goose and The Golden Egg – Inspirational Short Stories Series (Chapter: 4)”