Q: My kid is always complaining about being stressed out, is acting out a lot and starting to slip in school. I want to help but I am at a loss and frustrated. What can I be doing to help her deal with her stress in a healthy way? A: Great question. There’s nothing quite like a global pandemic to help us see that kids are human just like us – they get stressed, feel over whelmed, have needs they are not always able to effectively identify and communicate, can react poorly to all of this, etc. Although there are also certainly some developmental factors at play (the brain is under major construction during the teen years), it may be helpful to view stress as contents filling up our “cups,” making us fuller and fuller until we reach capacity. If stressors continue to pile on even then, it’s expected that spillover is going to at some point. Spillover can take many forms, some that make it hard to get along at times, and some with potentially devastating consequences and lasting impacts…