A teen bites a pencil while staring at a computer screen

Your teen, quietly freaking out about AP classes

Why parents seek help from a teen life coach

  • lack of motivation
  • failure to turn in work
  • disappointing grades
  • avoidance through gaming or social media

Why teens want help from a teen life coach

The research also says that students learn best when they’re allowed to deprioritize effort in the classes that aren’t personally important for them; that they don’t perceive as helping them reach future goals.

The pressure to earn a stack of As in challenging classes is not only creating anxiety, it’s barring students from acquiring knowledge.

If it takes all of a student’s energy and focus to get an A in one class, they’ve got none left in their brain to absorb the next class’s material. They won’t have any more of these resources until they recharge somehow, with sleep or friend time or gaming…all of the stuff many teens tell me they’re not supposed to do until they finish all of their homework.

The more high-level classes a teen has, the more impossible learning becomes. Even if they do rest, recharge and come back to it, there are only so many hours in a day. Teens tell me they’re up until one, two, three o’clock in the morning trying to get their work done…then going to school on three hours of sleep.

  • I have no motivation. All I can do is lie on my bed and scroll TikTok.
  • I want to do well, but I just forget to complete or turn in my work.
  • My grades started out good, but they’re so bad now, there’s nothing I can do.
  • The only time I feel okay is when I’m gaming. In games, I can actually be successful.

Exception to the rule