While routine for adults, hectic schedules can cause children stress that leads to emotional and mental trouble. With back-to-school time approaching, students' stress levels are rising and parents need to see the warning symptoms before they become red flags.

With students facing a day that includes school, sports practice, Boy or Girl Scout meeting, music lessons, homework and family time, how can they find time to relax

Symptoms of Stress

Symptoms of stress appear in three different ways:
emotionally, socially or physically. Symptoms differ for age groups.

Grade school children show the physical signs in the following ways: sleeping problems, changes in eating habits, head and stomach aches, teeth grinding, becoming accident prone, bed wetting and twirling and pulling their own hair. Emotional signs are: difficulty concentrating, anxiety and nervousness, increased irritability, lowered tolerance for frustration, and increased moodiness and tearfulness. Grade school children also may drastically change the way they play and talk with others.

Middle-school students demonstrate stress with frequent illness, accidents and headaches. They

High-school students could lose or gain a significant amount of weight and establish a pattern of increased "sick days." Socially, they could drift into smoking, drug and alcohol use. High-schoolers typically show most stress in their emotional state. Ongoing irritability, difficulty in concentrating, breaking down into crying fits over deadlines, perceived mistakes and failures, and loss of sense of humor are strong signals of high stress.

Where Stress Originates
Research shows that student stress typically originates from the pressure of very high parental expectations. Problems arise when a parent does not know how to help their child succeed yet still enjoy his/her childhood. Many parents become over-anxious for their child to succeed and can take over everything from homework to the child's social lives. Trying to solve time management problems should be left to the child. This will help the child to keep stress from becoming a destructive influence.

How Parents Can Help
The following tips are for parents to help their children cope with stress:

• Emphasize personal relations, not performance. Learn to succeed and enjoy yourself in the process. Fun is important to mental and motional stability.
• Spend quality time with your child. Let your child pick an activity you can do together: Keep the cellular phone at home or at the office.
• Compliment your child without comparing him or her to others. Show your child that his or her performance is what interests you.
• Listen, don't advise. There is a time to give advice and there is a time to just lend an ear.
• Reward effort. Sometimes it's good to reward effort alone since not everyone has the same ability. Performance is important but should not be the sole basis for rewards.
• Keep your sense of humor: Show kids our ability to laugh at yourself and your situation. Children learn from their parents' example and a sense of humor can make a lot of problems disappear.