National Stress Awareness Month: Signs of stress in kids

This National Stress Awareness Month, mental health experts are sharing tips for parents and children for stress.

Children are often overlooked when it comes to talking about stress, but ignoring signs can create long term issues.

Counselor Lupita Peña at Emergence Health Network says kids can experience signs as simple as headaches or stomachaches when they feel stressed.

But behavior-wise, they can show signs of clinginess, isolation, lack of focus, or even misbehaving more at school.

Pena says if those signs are ignored, then children can develop anxiety, depression,
Or even PTSD.

“So then we start labeling with 'Oh, you're misbehaving,' You know, kids don't necessarily understand or have the communication skills, depending on their age, to be able to say, I'm feeling anxious or I'm feeling stressed or this situation is overwhelming for me,” said Peña.

Another factor that causes stress in children, is pressure from their parents, teachers, or even schools to perform well on their standardized tests. 

This pressure, Peña says, leads to unhealthy stress. 

She shared some tips for children to cope with it.

"Social interaction is really important, or 'I'm going to take part in some type of hobby or sport, or I'm just going to spend some time with my family, I'm going to take some time off of screen time, or I'm going to put my phone away for a little bit,'" she said. "So it's a healthy balance."

Peña says if the stress becomes obsessive, it's important to find a healthy balance and think about what's in your control.