It’s the second week of school.

Your teen walks through the door, drops their backpack, and disappears into their room. You hear the door click shut.

You tell yourself it’s just a long day. But part of you wonders if this is the beginning of the same pattern you’ve seen before: the strong September start that slowly unravels until your teen feels completely shut down.

You’ve been here before. For most parents, back-to-school season brings school supply lists, shopping for new clothes, and making sure their teen has what they need to succeed in a new school year.

Learning to be BOLD

Guest Blog by Jen Moyer, LPC

In the last two blogs, you learned how to recognize when anxiety is keeping you stuck in a cycle of avoidance and now to use motivational skills and committed action to break the cycle of anxiety and live more aligned with your values.

In the previous blog, you learned how the cycle of anxiety works and how to recognize it when it shows up in your life. Now it’s important to build insight and skills to break the cycle by doing something different than what anxiety wants you to do…

Anxiety often feels overpowering, for the person who experiences it and for the parent who witnesses their teen or young adult struggle. 

As a parent, it can feel confusing — even jarring — to watch your sweet, snuggly child suddenly morph into someone who seems to roll their eyes at everything you say.

They slam doors. They cry harder than you expect over things that seem small. They question every rule. They want space. Lots of it.

There’s a moment that hits harder than you expect.

The moment your child stops asking for hugs.

The moment the jokes get an eye roll instead of a laugh.

The moment you feel like you’re tiptoeing just to keep the peace.

It’s not that you’re afraid of your teen.

Ever wish your teen came with a color-coded mood ring to warn you before you walked into a storm?

One minute they’re joking around, the next they’re slamming the door. Mood swings in teenagers can feel intense, unpredictable, and hard to keep up with—but they’re also a normal part of adolescent development