Under pressure

11:53am Tuesday 30th September 2008

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Every parent tells their children about how tiring and stressful adult life is - paying bills, going to work, looking after the family.

They claim they know what it's like to be our age. But do they really? How can they?

Life for teenagers has changed so much since they were them 30 or 40 years ago.

Every teenager nationwide now has a seemingly endless list of things to worry about and deal with, and never enough time to do it all in.

Firstly, and probably most obviously, there's the stress of school and exams. Every week day everyone under the age of 16 is sent to school to suffer the constant torture of lessons.

From the first minute you walk into school on the first day of term there is the constant lectures from teachers about exams, homework and the importance of being on time and revising for your exams.

The pressure of exams is endless, from your first day in your new secondary school the countdown to your GCSEs has already begun.

I'm in Year 11 this year and on the very first morning in assembly our headteacher was telling us how well the last year had done and pressuring us to do better.

Now I ask you, is that really fair? To be telling us to revise and be doing coursework within five minutes of us being back in school? No, it's as if we don't have enough to worry about already.

We already have to deal with the issues that come with growing up, friends and relationships.

Not only are we changing and growing up but we have to deal with who we are now and who our friends are.

Sometimes it's hard enough being yourself and being confident with who you are, but then we have the added pressure of trying to stay true to yourself but still get people to like you.

There are so many questions we all want answers to: How do I get him to notice me? How can I get them to like me? What happens if I don't do what my friends want?

There's only one way to answer these and that's to live your life to the full and discover the truth along the way.

However, all these things add together to put us all under an awful lot of pressure, and sometimes it can be hard to cope with all you have to deal with.

So although exams are important, and yes they can decide our futures, I think we should all have a little time to ourselves and to relax and spend time with our friends.

We need to try and stop worrying about what people want us to be and be true to ourselves - after all, how can you enjoy the future if you can't enjoy today?

By Claire Reeves, aged 15, from Orpington