Being a parent is hard, whatever age your kids are. Whether you have a preschooler or an adolescent, you will probably lose sleep over your kid at some point. It can be difficult to know what the right thing to do is when you have a troubled teen and want to help them. Do you reach out to a consultant or a therapist? Do you try to manage mental health symptoms at home? Should you check in with a medical doctor?
The truth is that every adolescent is different, and the things that help one troubled teen may not be right for another adolescent facing challenges. With that being said, though, there are a few things that you may want to try. Let’s dive into some options for helping out the troubled teen you love.
Try to gauge if there’s a physical problem, like insomnia.
The first thing to do when you’re trying to figure out how to deal with a troubled teen is to rule out a physical problem. For example, if your adolescent has insomnia, sleep apnea, or any other type of sleep disorder, they may be cranky or unable to handle daily life without understanding why.
Diagnosing a sleep disorder or a mental health issue doesn’t have to be hard, but you should reach out to a doctor sooner rather than later for a checkup. If you’re in New Jersey, for example, you should know that there is sleep disorder testing in New Brunswick, NJ that can help diagnose sleep disorders as diverse as sleep apnea and narcolepsy and can help your adolescent get a good night’s rest soon.
Maybe something academic or social is troubling them.
There are plenty of things that may be on your teen’s mind, causing mood swings and irritability in your sweet kid. The teenage years are hard, with hormone shifts and peer pressure taking a toll on your physical and mental health. Plus, older teens have to deal with the stress of the college admissions process, which is especially hectic if they have their hearts set on a dream school. Maybe they’re dreaming of business school, but want to stand out from the other applicants. How can you help them figure out if the business school they love is really the best fit for them, and if it is, how to write a stellar applicant essay that emphasizes their strengths?
The good news is that, if getting into Stanford or another top business school is what’s troubling them, MBA application consulting is very advanced these days. A consultant can help with everything from interview prep to acing the GMAT. It may calm your teen to know that getting into an MBA program at a top business school doesn’t have to be unattainable at all with a consultant on their side.
Reach out to other parents who you trust.
Dealing with a troubled teen and finding compassion and empathy for someone who’s seething at you is hard, even for the best parents out there. Take the time to get advice from, or just to rant to, other parents who are taking a deep breath and gritting their teeth in the face of more mood swings. You never know, those parents might even be able to recommend a psychologist, tutor, or a support group that helped their adolescent and will help yours, too.
In the end, teens are just human beings going through a rough time. Sure, they lose their temper and make bad choices—but we did, too, in our teenage years. Don’t let teen behavior get the best of you. Reach out for medical or mental health help, and see if you can ease their worries when it comes to the college application process.