Life. One minute we’re a teenager and the next minute we’re raising one. Don’t you remember being a carefree teen driving our social lives into action with the windows down and the radio up? Mom and dad helped with gas, provided our every meal and did our laundry. Some of us worked because we could, not because we had to. We worked out because we could, not because we had to (ugh). Then off to college where the great big world awaited, exposing us to different perspectives, new pedagogies, opportunities for endless mistakes, and possibly our faith sacrificed on the altar of compromise. Next, we navigated careers, marriage, sleepless nights with babies, toddlers, teens challenging our battered brains, all the while plowing full steam ahead on this journey called life. Extemporaneous challenges can await at each new turn, plowing us right off a cliff if we refuse to process life as it progresses. We’ve seen the wreckage countless times--often tempted to join debauchery’s debris--for none of us are immune.

Anxiety is something that affects all ages in our society, but it is especially prevalent in the high school years. While high school has always been marked by increasing independence and preparing for adulthood, they are arguably more challenging now than ever before due to the busyness of our culture, the pressures and prevalence of after-school activities and the often-consuming use of technology.

Mom says: “Why are you watching Stranger Things? Don’t you have any homework?”

Student replies: “Nope.”

How many times has this very conversation played out in your home?

Many students erroneously believe that if homework has not been assigned or is already completed and no quizzes or tests have been scheduled for the next day, then homework doesn’t exist.

Parents, this is not necessarily the case. In fact, there is hardly ever a time during the school year when your student doesn’t have at least something that they should be studying or reviewing.