August 5, 2021

August 5, 2021

7 Ways To Spot Burnout In Your Children (& How To Help)

Every parent wants their child to thrive. You may be well aware that an adult can suffer from burnout at home or work for a variety of reasons – but did you know that children can too?

There are several ways to spot burnout in your children. All you need to understand is what warning signs to look for. Read on for all you need to know (and what you can do to help).

What Causes Burnout?
Burnout is simply a state of exhaustion – whether that be physical, emotional, or mental. In kids, burnout can occur when they’re faced with a lot of ongoing stress without the chance to recharge and relax.

Why are kids these days so stressed? Well, a lot may have to do with their schedules. If they have a lot of work to do in school and then after-school commitments such as sports or band practice, it can be really easy to reach the level of complete exhaustion recognized as burnout.

Burnout can also significantly impact children who think and learn differently. Sure, anyone can feel burned out, but kids who have special needs may feel this way because of academic factors, such as having to work harder than their peers to reach the same results; emotional factors, such as low self-esteem because of their challenges; or social factors, such as struggling to make friends who understand them.

Of course, burnout doesn’t only impact the lives of kids with learning differences. Any child can get to this stage, which is why it’s crucial to understand what to look for when it comes to kids and burnout.

How Do You Detect Burnout?
Staying diligent and looking for the signs of burnout is important for all parents. Hard work and stress can turn quickly into feelings of being overwhelmed, which can lead to burnout, killing a child’s motivation in the process.

A few common signs of burnout in kids include:

  • Procrastination – Putting off work until later only to scramble to get it in at the last minute is a huge indication of burnout. If you find yourself having to constantly remind your child to do things related to school or extracurricular activities, and they still stall and/or complain, then probe a bit further to see if burnout is the real issue.
  • Apathy – If your child used to really care about things but has recently been struggling to garner any enthusiasm, burnout could be knocking on the door. For example, if you ask your child how their soccer practice went and get “It went OK, I guess” as a response instead of their normal enthusiasm, something might be amiss.
  • Fear or anxiety – Different children struggle with different things, whether it’s a certain subject in school or making friends. But if you’ve noticed a shift where your child gets increasingly anxious and either acts out or gets emotional, then it might be due to burnout.
  • Avoidance – Perhaps your kid really loved the first few months of their new afterschool tutoring program, but you notice now that they’re avoiding it and trying to come up with excuses not to go. That is a definite sign that burnout could be here and must be dealt with so they can move forward.
  • Negativity – Children generally have a positive attitude when it comes to the things they enjoy. If that enthusiasm dwindles and they’re displaying a negative attitude about it, it might be because your child is simply burned out. What they once viewed as fun simply isn’t any longer.
  • Irritability – If you’ve noticed your child is easily becoming upset or annoyed by things that were never a big deal before, overwhelm or burnout could be to blame.
  • Difficulty concentrating – Distraction is something many children struggle with, but children who were once able to focus and are having difficulty lately may have burnout to blame.

How Do Students Recover from Burnout?
The first step to helping your child deal with burnout is to recognize the symptoms. Once you’ve identified a case of burnout, you should:

  • Not ignore it – Burnout will only continue to get worse if you keep pushing your child and don’t stop to help.
  • Help them manage stress – Even though you may look at your child’s life and think it’s not stressful, they experience it differently. Talk to your kids about the things that stress them out, and make changes that will break up their burnout cycle and work to reduce stress in their lives.
  • Make crucial changes – Teaching your child to effectively deal with stress is something that will benefit them for life. Talk about mindfulness techniques such as deep breathing or meditation, spend more time with them, and make sure they have plenty of time to play and socialize.
  • Help them organize – One way to avoid overwhelm is to make sure your child is organized. Get them a planner or a calendar that has their schedule written down to help them stay focused.
  • Make sure they’re sleeping well – Kids need plenty of sleep. Teens should be getting as many as 10 hours each night, while younger kids may need even more. Good quality sleep is one very important way to fight back against burnout.

Burnout can strike anyone at any time – even kids. But as long as you understand what to look for and how to help, it’s a problem that you and your child can tackle together.

Featured image by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash