They’re Not Lazy, Rude, or ‘Just Hormonal’: What Our Teens Are Really Going Through

If You’re Confused, You’re Not Alone

Lately, I’ve been struck by just how many of my daughter’s teenage friends can’t even say hello when they come over.

I don’t mean rude—I mean frozen.

Too anxious to make eye contact.

Too unsure to answer a simple “How was your day?”

Some sit at our dinner table like they’ve landed in a foreign country, unsure of the customs, uncomfortable with conversation, visibly unsure how to connect.

It’s awkward. Painful, even. And it’s not a one-off. It’s becoming the norm.

Over the past year, I’ve started noticing it everywhere, in the community, in my daughter’s friends, in my own home, in my son and his mates.

Girls who spend hours behind closed doors, only emerging when they need to eat. One casually joked, “I don’t come out of my room unless I need food,” like it was completely normal. Another said, “They [parents] bring my food to me, so I don’t have to leave.”

No one flinched—except for my daughter, who glanced at me with a look that said everything: This isn’t okay.

And the boys?

They joke around, act chill, play it cool. But I can see it. I see it in my son. I see it in his friends.

Let me be honest, my son lives with his dad during the week and stays with us on weekends.

When he’s here, he sleeps half the day. He sneaks his device into his room and games until the early hours. He pushes back on boundaries, then gets frustrated when we follow through. That “I don’t care” attitude? It’s become his mask.

And it’s heartbreaking to watch.

Because this is the reality of co-parenting across two very different households. When one parent won’t acknowledge the dysregulation, shrugs it off as “just typical teenage boy behaviour”, and allows the very things that are keeping him stuck… there’s only so much I can do on the weekends - And that’s the part that breaks me most.

So, if you’re co-parenting and feel powerless—you’re not alone. I see you. I feel your pain and your frustration.

Despite what many believe, these behaviours aren’t just “typical teen stuff.” And they’re not limited to teenagers. Our world has become so dysregulated that we’re seeing these same patterns in younger kids. In adults. In ourselves.

This isn’t a phase. These are windows into nervous systems stuck in survival mode, masking overwhelm with humour, distraction, shutdown, or withdrawal.

What might look like laziness, moodiness, or defiance is often something much deeper: Exhaustion. Disconnection. Emotional overload with nowhere safe to land.

And here’s another layer no one’s talking about:

What I’m seeing in teens today, the ones who can’t make eye contact while serving you at the local shop, or seem too anxious to clear your table because they’d have to ask, “Are you done with that?” isn’t just about nervous system shutdown.

It’s also about what we’ve stopped teaching.

Somewhere along the way, we lost the art of preparing kids for real-world conversations.

We don’t model real-life social skills the way we used to. We avoid awkward interactions for our kids. We hand them a device instead of helping them sit through discomfort.

And the cost? It’s showing up everywhere.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve sat in a café, looked around, and seen toddlers—toddlers—swiping through apps with more fluency than most adults. They haven’t even learned to speak yet, but they can skip ads and change YouTube channels.

It’s impressive. And terrifying.

Because these same kids are growing up without the most basic of human skills Grabbing a coffee with a friend and actually talking.

You can’t tell me that hasn’t been a lifeline for you before.

We’ve all had those moments, sitting across from someone we trust, sipping something warm, saying, “I’m not okay.”

That kind of connection? It saves people. And we’re unintentionally raising kids who may never learn how to reach for it, because no one ever showed them how.

Even moments that used to teach life skills, like ordering a meal or chatting at a café, have been replaced by screens and silence.

So now, we have a generation of young people who are not only overwhelmed, but under-equipped. And that’s not on them. That’s on us.

This isn’t just a phase. It’s not something they’ll grow out of. It’s a generational health crisis—and it’s showing up behind closed doors, around dinner tables, in classrooms, out in the community and on screens.

If we don’t start offering real support, not just more diagnoses or stricter rules, we risk raising kids who don’t know how to feel safe inside themselves.

What Our Teens Are Really Up Against (Yes—Both Boys and Girls)

We often hear that boys and girls are “wired differently.” And while that’s true in some ways, what we’re seeing in teens right now is something much deeper than gendered behaviour.

Across the board, our kids are overwhelmed. Their nervous systems are under constant pressure, and whether they express it through anger, silence, overachievement, or shutdown, the root cause is the same: dysregulation.

The Mental Health Load

Since the pandemic, anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation have skyrocketed among adolescents. Girls are often the ones crying quietly behind closed doors, people-pleasing their way through perfectionism, or overachieving themselves into exhaustion.

Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to express their distress through anger, risk-taking, or shutting down entirely.

What’s even more heartbreaking? Many boys are never identified as struggling, because we still live in a world that teaches them to "toughen up" instead of talking about their feelings. So their emotional distress flies under the radar until it erupts.

📚 According to the AIHW (2023), one in five adolescents is living with a mental health disorder. Girls report more anxiety and depression, while boys show more outward distress.

The Social Disconnect

Teens today are growing up in a world where real-life conversation feels like a foreign language. Face-to-face interaction is down. Fear of judgment is up. And for many, the social skills that were once built through everyday interactions, like answering the phone or greeting someone’s parents, were never fully developed, especially during those crucial pandemic years.

Now, we’re seeing the ripple effect, particularly in how teens interact with adults.

Girls often become hyper-aware, anxious, or withdrawn, worried about saying the wrong thing or being “too much.” Boys tend to mask their discomfort with humour, sarcasm, or aloof indifference. And both often avoid eye contact, mumble a “yeah” or “nah,” or freeze altogether in social situations, especially around adults or authority figures.

Let me tell you a quick story from just last night.

My daughter had two friends over for dinner. Both were lovely girls—I'm sure they're sweet, kind, and polite. But honestly? I wouldn't know if that's a true reflection… because both were also deeply socially awkward.

Trying to have a conversation with them was like pulling teeth.

Both girls sat at one end of the table with my daughter and just kept giggling, nobody spoke a word except for my daughter who tried her best to include them in our conversation and make conversation of her own. She could see how uncomfortable they were but tried her best to to make the situation as light hearted as possible.

One of the girls sat right on the edge of her seat, physically leaning away from me like I was kryptonite. She barely made eye contact, glancing at me from the corner of her eye like she wasn’t sure what I might say or do.

When I asked her how her day was, she squeaked, yes, you heard that right, she squeaked, like she was terrified and her voice box lost its sound. At one point, my daughter, who’s usually quick-witted, confident, and chatty, jokingly asked, “Are you okay?” I think she was even feeling the tension.

And the girl replied quietly: “I don’t know how to talk to them.”

She wasn’t being rude. She was overwhelmed. Her nervous system was doing everything it could to protect her in what should have been a safe and simple moment: dinner with a friend’s family.

Honestly? She looked uncomfortable. I felt uncomfortable. It was, without question, the most awkward dinner I’ve ever had at my own table.

The contrast was striking. My daughter is naturally social; she speaks with confidence, asks questions, shares stories, and holds her own in adult conversations. But sitting across from her friends that night, it felt like chalk and cheese.

These girls didn’t seem to know how to connect. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they’d never really learned how.

Even something as basic as saying hello or making small talk can feel terrifying to a nervous system wired for social survival. And it’s not just that they don’t know how, it’s that they’ve rarely had to.

Back in my day, we called our friends on the home phone, where you had to speak to their mum or dad first. We knocked on doors and introduced ourselves. We texted after we’d already spent time together.

Those simple moments were mini social rehearsals. We didn’t realise it at the time, but we were building skills. Building confidence. Building connection.

Now? Teens can have entire “friendships” through Snapchat or TikTok, without ever hearing a voice, making eye contact, or sitting across from each other in real life.

And increasingly, they’re forming deep emotional bonds with AI chatbots—digital companions that listen without judgment, always respond, and never set boundaries.

It might sound harmless. Even helpful. But for a young person who feels isolated, dysregulated, and unseen in the real world, AI can become their only source of comfort, connection—and control.

*Trigger warning

That’s exactly what happened to a 14‑year‑old Florida boy named Sewell—Sewell Setzer III. He formed an intense bond with a Character. AI chatbot based on Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. Over months, he withdrew from real-world interactions and virtually became "romantic" with this AI. Tragically, when his AI friend told him they could “come home together,” Sewell took his own life after receiving that final message. You can read the article here 

This isn’t science fiction. It’s happening now to kids who are lonely, emotionally overloaded, and desperate for connection. And while we’re worrying about screen time limits and group chat drama, they’re building entire inner worlds with digital ghosts who cannot keep them safe.

📚 A 2022 study in the Journal of Adolescence found that social anxiety has risen sharply across genders—worsened by the decline of in-person interaction, especially since the pandemic.

The Digital Drain — When Screens Don’t Just Distract, They Reshape

And then there’s tech. Not just the time spent on it, but the type of content being consumed.

Our teens live in a world of constant stimulation: pings, likes, scrolling, messaging. But what many adults don’t realise is, they’re not just consuming content. They’re being shaped by it.

Algorithms aren’t designed to protect well-being. They’re designed to keep attention, and they do that by feeding teens content that:

• Fuels insecurity

• Reinforces one-sided worldviews

• Glorifies toxic behaviours

• Deepens fear, division, and comparison

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Girls are drowning in beauty filters, “what I eat in a day” reels, and influencer perfection—carefully curated to reinforce the idea that their worth lies in how they look.

Boys are often pulled into violent gaming loops, exposed to misogynistic content, or targeted by “alpha male” creators who reward dominance over empathy and silence vulnerability.

But it goes even deeper than what they scroll. Some teens are now building relationships with AI chatbots. Not just for fun—but for comfort, validation, and connection they don’t feel safe finding in the real world.

One recent study found that 35% of kids aged 9–17 treat chatbots like friends, and that number jumps to over 50% in vulnerable kids. They’re having emotional conversations with bots, seeking advice, and in some heartbreaking cases, turning to AI in moments of crisis.

💔 That’s not connection. That’s code posing as care.

And it’s happening in bedrooms all over the world, kids choosing bots over people, because the bots ALWAYS agree, never interrupt, never question, and never set boundaries.

This isn’t just distraction. It’s distortion of identity, confidence, and connection. It quietly divides them from each other, and from us.

The result?

• Emotional fatigue

• Sleep disruption

• Numbness

• Dysregulation

• And a nervous system that never, ever gets a break.

  
  

📚 Jean Twenge’s iGen research confirms it: more screen time equals higher rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness across genders. And now, with the rise of emotionally responsive AI, the stakes have never been higher.

School Pressure (It’s Not Affecting Them Equally)

Girls are burning out from trying to do it all: good grades, social acceptance, leadership roles, and emotional caretaking. They often look like they’re excelling, but underneath, they’re exhausted, anxious, and afraid of failing.

Boys, on the other hand, are falling behind, especially in reading and attention. They often disengage from school environments that don’t meet their learning or sensory needs. Instead of being supported, they’re punished.

📚 Girls outperform boys academically (OECD PISA, 2018), but also report higher stress. Boys are more likely to be suspended or drop out entirely (AIHW, 2023).

We’re Letting Them Down—And Here’s the Proof

What many of our teens are struggling with isn’t just about overstimulation or social anxiety. It’s also because we, as parents, teachers, and role models, aren’t giving them the social and emotional tools they desperately need to thrive.

Parents as Social Architects

Research consistently shows that children learn more by watching us than from what we tell them. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory tells us that kids internalise behaviours simply by observing them, even when we're not aware. 

But what are they seeing?

• A household where devices sit between us at the dinner table

• Adults retreating into our own screens instead of sitting through awkward silences

• Adults who avoid difficult conversations rather than model how to navigate them

  
  

And it’s impacting them at a neurological level. A recent meta-analysis found that positive parent, child interaction, emotional warmth, guided reflection, boundary-setting, directly boosts children’s ability to regulate emotions and connect socially.

When parents skip these interactions, kids lose the practice ground they need to build confidence, resilience, and relational skill.

Modeling Isn’t Enough—Intentional Teaching Matters

We’ve got to move beyond "just be kind" and "put your phone down." Role modeling help, but it doesn't teach them how to respond. Social skills training, like video modeling and role-play, has been proven effective in building conversational confidence, empathy, and real-world communication.

Our teens aren’t missing manners, they’re missing guidance, practice, and the neurological scaffolding that adults used to naturally provide. Instead of stepping in and training them up, we’re outsourcing their growth, or letting technology do it for us.

What This Means for Us

By avoiding discomfort, staying plugged into our own devices, and leaving conversations to screens, we’re unintentionally raising a generation that’s:

• Emotionally overloaded

• Socially under-practiced

• Digitally dependent—but relationally fragile

  
  

These are not kids with bad attitudes. They’re kids who haven’t been taught how to be human in the ways that matter most.

🚹 Boys: The Quiet Crisis We’re Not Talking About

Many boys have no idea how to name their feelings, let alone express them safely. The message they’ve received from the world is clear: “Don’t cry. Don’t talk. Don’t feel too much.” So they hold it all in… until it explodes.

After years of emotional suppression, these boys don’t just “lack resilience”, they lack a safe emotional roadmap. They haven’t been taught how to regulate, repair, or relate in healthy ways. And the pandemic only made this worse. With schools closed, routines gone, and social supports stripped away, many boys retreated deeper into online worlds where the loudest, most extreme voices rise to the top.

Instead of vulnerability, empathy, or emotional literacy, boys have always been sold a dangerous replacement: The “alpha male” mentality.

On TikTok, YouTube, Discord, and gaming platforms, boys are absorbing content that promotes:

• Dominance over dialogue

• Control over connection

• Stoicism over sensitivity

• “Being a real man” over being a whole human

  
  

This ideology doesn’t just limit boys, it harms them. It tells them emotions are weak. That empathy makes them a target. That power, money, and control are the only forms of worth.

So, they play along. They laugh at the jokes. They mimic the language. They shut down their softness. And slowly, they disconnect from themselves.

Without emotionally attuned role models, at home, at school, or online, many boys are growing up unsure how to relate, unsure how to cope, and unsure who they’re even allowed to be.

And in classrooms that punish movement, sensitivity, or neurodivergence, they check out completely.

📚 The Journal of School Psychology (2020) shows boys are less likely to report emotional distress and are often underdiagnosed.

🚺 Girls: Breaking Down Under the Surface

While boys may explode, girls often implode.

They’re navigating relentless pressure to be everything at once: good, smart, liked, attractive, inclusive, assertive, but not too much of anything. And they’re trying to figure all of this out while consuming a steady diet of content that tells them exactly how to look, how to behave, and what to prioritise.

Let’s be honest: we’re not just talking about social media anymore. We’re talking about trashy reality TV like Married at First Sight, where manipulation is entertainment and women are judged for everything from their bodies to their tone of voice. We’re talking about so-called teen shows like Ginny & Georgia, where self-harm, eating disorders, and trauma are depicted in almost every episode, and the characters facing them are doing it alone.

This is the emotional landscape our girls are absorbing—often before they even hit puberty. And then we wonder why they’re anxious? Why they hate their bodies? Why they feel like no one understands them?

The content they’re consuming isn’t just showing them unhealthy behaviours—it’s normalising emotional distress as a rite of passage. It’s romanticising dysfunction while offering zero healthy modelling for regulation, boundaries, or support.

And during the pandemic, when in-person connection was stripped away, these shows and apps became their window to the world. For many girls, they became their blueprint for what life is supposed to look like.

Underneath it all, they’re still dealing with:

• Relational aggression (exclusion, gossip, manipulation)

• Silent competition around beauty, likeability, and achievement

• Fear of being “too much” or “not enough” at the same time

  
  

They may look fine. They may be smiling. They may still be getting the grades.But inside? Many are falling apart.

📚 The Dove Self-Esteem Project (2021) found 80% of girls avoid activities due to body image concerns.

📚 The Developmental Review (2018) found girls are more likely to experience—and inflict—relational aggression.

The Closed-Door Epidemic: Why So Many Teens Are Hiding in Their Rooms

It’s become the norm, hasn’t it?

Your teen walks in the door after school, mutters a hello (if you’re lucky), and disappears behind a bedroom door that stays shut until morning.

Hours pass.

The lights are off, or glowing from a screen. They’re curled up in bed, headphones in, scrolling TikTok, bingeing Netflix, or gaming late into the night.

You knock to offer food. Maybe they grunt a “thanks.” They’re not angry. Not defiant. Just… distant.

And here’s the thing: This isn’t just “teen moodiness” or “needing space.” It’s a nervous system survival strategy.

Because when life feels too loud, socially, emotionally, academically, their room becomes the only place they feel any control. The only place where no one’s asking anything of them. Where they can disconnect, shut the world out, and breathe... even if just for a moment.

But let’s be honest—this didn’t happen in a vacuum.

We, as the adults, helped create this environment.

Many of us stopped knocking on doors.

We let dinner conversations disappear.

We filled every moment of discomfort with a device or silence.

We modelled avoidance instead of regulation.

We told them to open up, but rarely showed them how.

And now, we’re watching kids retreat into their rooms… because we retreated first.

But what we aren't completely aware of is what starts as “downtime” can slide into something far more worrying:

• Emotional numbness

• Disrupted sleep cycles

• Low motivation and energy

• Escalating anxiety or depression

• Disconnection from family and peers

• A deepening belief: “I’m not like everyone else”

  
  

And now, in the silence of those dark rooms, many teens are finding comfort in places we never imagined: AI chatbots. Virtual friends. Emotional relationships with bots programmed to mimic care - This is terrifying and something that we should all be deeply concered about as parents.

These digital companions are always available.

Always agreeable.

They never challenge.

Never interrupt.

Never judge.

And for a teen who feels unseen, they can feel safer than any real relationship.

But that safety is an illusion.

Some kids are now confiding in AI more than their parents, teachers, or even their real-life friends. And in heartbreaking cases, those connections have gone too far.

💔 Like I said before, that isn’t connection. That’s code pretending to care. And our kids are building relationships with it alone, behind closed doors, while the rest of us assume they’re “just on their screens again.”

You might even think: “Well, at least they’re not out getting into trouble.”

But chronic isolation is 100% trouble, on every single level. It’s just a quieter kind, one that disconnects them from their bodies, their emotions, their families, and eventually… from reality.

What If the Way Out… Isn’t Through More Talking?

When our teens retreat, our instinct is to reach in with words:

“What’s wrong?”

“Why are you shutting me out?”

“Can you at least tell me how you’re feeling?”

We ask because we care. We ask because we want to help. But when a teen is dysregulated, shut down, flooded, anxious, or overwhelmed, talking doesn’t work.

They can’t explain it. Sometimes, they don’t even know what’s happening inside. And if they do, they may not have the language or safety to express it.

Here’s the truth that changed everything for me:

We don’t talk kids out of shutdown. We move them through it.

Not by forcing conversations. Not by pushing them to “open up.”

But by gently guiding them back into their body.

Back into sensation.

Back into rhythm.

Back into breath.

Because healing doesn’t begin in the mind, it begins in the nervous system.

Here’s the science: During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for logic, language, reasoning, and impulse control- is still under construction. Meanwhile, the limbic system (emotions, fear, stress, and reward) is in overdrive. So when teens are overwhelmed, their emotional brain hijacks the system, and their ability to “talk it through” shuts down.

According to Dr. Dan Siegel, author of The Whole-Brain Child, a dysregulated brain needs connection before correction, and body-based calming before verbal problem-solving.

That’s why your teen might shut down, roll their eyes, or lash out when you try to “talk it out.” Their nervous system isn’t ready for words - it’s asking for regulation first.

How Yoga Therapy Creates a Bridge Back to Connection

At The GET Co., we never push kids to talk before they’re ready.

We don’t expect eye contact.

We don’t demand vulnerability.

We don’t assume stillness means regulation.

Instead, we create an experience that feels safe before it needs to be spoken about.

And sometimes? That first moment of full-body breath, lying on a mat, unjudged, unhurried, unfixed, is the first time they’ve felt present all day.

• For the girl who’s exhausted from people-pleasing, child’s pose without expectations feels like relief.

• For the boy who’s never had the words for his feelings, moving through a sequence designed to release anger gives him a language of sensation.

• For the teen who’s been hiding in their room for weeks? This might be their first safe experience of returning to themselves.

What Comes Next

If this all feels a bit raw or overwhelming, take a deep breath. You’re not alone in this.

There’s a way to support our teens that doesn’t involve yelling up the stairs, bribing them off their phones, or wondering if you’re doing it all wrong.

There’s a way that works with the body, not against it.

And that’s where yoga therapy comes in, not as a trend or a “nice extra,” but as a nervous system intervention. One that can meet your teen right where they are—even if that’s on the floor of their bedroom, headphones in, world shut out.

💔 When You See the Difference—It Hits Hard

My teenagers come to the dinner table every night. They talk openly with me, their dad, and their siblings, and are comfortable talking to the adults in their life. We eat together, phones away, TV off.

It’s not always smooth sailing (we’re human), but it’s real. It’s connected.

There’s no disappearing into bedrooms with a device. We don’t allow screens in bedrooms, and we keep the door open, literally and emotionally.

But what strikes me… is how rare this has become.

Because when I look at my daughter's friends who are only 4 years younger than my son's friends? I see a different story.

One friend openly shared that she barely speaks to her parents. Another hasn’t had a proper meal with family in weeks. Many spend entire afternoons and nights holed up in their rooms, curtains drawn, earbuds in, scrolling endlessly.

And their parents, loving, busy, and well-meaning, are often unsure how to bridge the gap, or are just glad their teen is at home, keeping out of trouble.

This isn’t about blame. It’s about a broken system that leaves parents unsupported, kids dysregulated, and families too tired to fight the tide.

What we’ve done with our teenage daughter isn’t magic—it’s intentional. And it’s protective. But it shouldn’t be the exception.

Because what these teens need isn’t more screen time or more space to “just be alone.”They need reconnection. Regulation. Safety. They need to feel seen in a world that’s constantly overwhelming.

And if no one’s ever shown them how to get there through the body, then no wonder they retreat.

🧘‍♀️ So What Is Yoga Therapy—and Why Does It Help?

Let’s clear this up right now: This isn’t about flexibility. Or “perfecting” a pose. Or turning your teen into a blissed-out little Buddha.

Yoga therapy is about creating safety in the body, so the nervous system can shift out of survival mode and finally exhale.

For teens, it’s one of the few spaces where they can:

• Stop performing

• Drop the mask

• Move how they feel

• Learn what calm actually feels like

  
  

And that’s powerful. Especially for a generation whose bodies are constantly bracing, buzzing, or shutting down.

What It Looks Like in Practice

At The GET Co., our sessions are:

• Trauma-informed: No hands-on adjustments, no pressure to “get it right”

• Sensory-aware: Dim lighting, soft textures, and optional props to support different needs

• Emotionally attuned: We read body language more than spoken words

• Empowering: Teens choose what feels safe for them, movement, stillness, journaling, breath, or just being present

Here’s what a session might include:

Regulation-Based Movement: Simple sequences to release tension, boost energy, or soothe anxiety (think: slow flowing cat-cow, child’s pose with breath, restorative shapes)

Breathwork for Emotional Control: We teach them to shift gears, using breath to down-regulate from anger, panic, or overwhelm (e.g. box breathing, humming bee breath, coherent breath)

Self-Reflection & Identity Building: Through affirmations, journaling, or guided visualisation, we help teens reconnect to their own voice, not the filtered version they show the world.

Neuroscience Meets Energy Work: We gently integrate meridian theory and brain-body education so teens understand what’s happening inside them—and feel less broken by it.

And Here’s What We Don’t Do:

❌ Force conversation

❌ Expect eye contact

❌ Push performance

❌ Assume one size fits all

Some teens lie on the mat for 10 minutes before moving. Others start with small movements and grow into deeper breathwork. All of it is valid. Because it’s not about looking calm. It’s about feeling safe.

🙄 “My Teen Would Never Do That”: How to Get Them On Board (Without a Power Struggle)

Let’s be honest, teens can sniff out pressure a mile away. The second something feels like a “you should do this, it’s good for you” activity, the walls go up. Eye rolls. Resistance. Maybe even a dramatic “UGH, stopppp.”

Totally normal. Totally human.

Because what they don’t need is one more adult trying to fix them. What they do need is agency, safety, and choice.

Here’s how we help parents introduce yoga therapy without triggering shutdown or pushback:

1. Start with Curiosity, Not Control

Instead of: “You’re stressed and need yoga. I signed you up.”

Try:

“I read about this thing that helps with sleep, stress, and anxiety. No talking required. Want to check it out and see if it feels good in your body?”

Lead with benefits they care about—like better sleep, less anxiety, fewer meltdowns, or finally feeling calm for once. Keep it chill.

2. Normalize It—Without Making It Weird

Teens don’t want to feel like the only one doing “some weird breathing thing.”Talk about it like you would any other tool or skill:

“It’s just body stuff to help with nervous system overload. Nothing woo-woo, I promise.”

Bonus tip: if you’ve done yoga or breathwork yourself, tell them! “I actually use this when I feel anxious too” can go a long way.

3. Give Them Control Over the Experience

Choice is everything. At The GET Co., we encourage:

• Lying down instead of sitting

• Eyes open or closed

• Moving or simply watching at first

• Using noise-canceling headphones or fidget tools if needed

Let them ease in. There’s no “wrong” way to participate.

4. Be Honest: This Isn’t a Quick Fix (And That’s a Good Thing)

Let’s be real, no one heals in one session. Not kids. Not adults. Not anyone with a nervous system that’s been stuck in survival mode for years.

At The GET Co., we’re not selling instant calm. We’re building capacity, slowly, safely, consistently.

So instead of saying,

“Just try it once and see what you think,” be honest with your teen:

“It’s not about feeling amazing after one class. It’s about giving your body a safe place to unwind a little more each week.”

We often tell parents: the first session might not be “life-changing.” Your teen might lie under a blanket. Fidget. Resist. That’s okay. What matters is that their system felt safe enough to return.

Healing through the body isn’t dramatic, it’s subtle, layered, and cumulative. And that’s where the real transformation happens.

5. Celebrate the Small Wins (But Keep the Bigger Picture in Sight)

If your teen takes one full breath and says,

“I actually feel a bit calmer…” you don’t brush it off—you honour it.

Because that moment of nervous system awareness? That’s a crack in the shutdown. A glimpse of what safety can feel like.

But here’s the truth: It’s not the win—it’s the start.

Healing through the body isn’t about grand gestures or instant shifts. It’s about those tiny, quiet moments repeated again and again. It’s about consistency, not intensity.

So yes, celebrate that breath, that sigh, that one stretch they didn’t resist. And then gently guide them back next week. And the week after that. Because safety isn’t built in one class. It’s built in rhythm, repetition, and trust.

Signs Your Teen Might Be Dysregulated (That Often Get Missed)

Most parents know what a full-blown meltdown looks like. But nervous system dysregulation doesn’t always come in big, loud waves. Sometimes, it’s subtle. Quiet. Almost invisible—until you know what to look for.

Here are some of the most common signs we see at The GET Co.—the ones that don’t always show up in textbooks or get flagged at school:

😶 1. Emotional Flatness or “I Don’t Care” Syndrome

• They’re not being rebellious—they’re numb.

• A nervous system in shutdown mode often protects itself by disconnecting from emotion.

• You might see: apathy, zoning out, no reaction to things that used to matter.

🔁 2. Extreme Reactions to Small Triggers

• The water bottle’s missing → full rage.

• Someone said “hi” weird → meltdown.

• They’re not overreacting—their brain is reacting as if they’re in danger. Every small stressor feels like the final straw.

🛌 3. Constant Fatigue or Oversleeping

• Not just “teen tired.” We’re talking 12+ hours in bed and still exhausted.

• The nervous system uses up a ton of energy when stuck in survival mode.

• It’s not laziness—it’s burnout.

🧍 4. Avoiding Social Interaction (Even With Family)

• They stop eating dinner with you.

• They stop texting friends back.

• They say things like, “I don’t want to talk,” “I’m fine,” or just go silent.

Note: as we’ve shared earlier, this is a red flag I’ve actively worked to prevent in my own home through open-door policies, tech boundaries, and daily connection.

📱 5. Total Screen Immersion

• If they’re always on a device, they may be using it to self-soothe.

• Endless scrolling, gaming, or bingeing helps them numb out from overwhelming internal chaos.

• But this can backfire, increasing anxiety, disconnection, and sleep problems.

🚫 6. Refusal to Try New Things or Go Places

• You invite them to a friend’s BBQ, a family outing, or even just a walk—and the answer is always “no.”

• Underneath is usually fear: “What if I feel awkward?” “What if I can’t handle it?” “What if I’m too much?”

😤 7. Angry Outbursts That Come Out of Nowhere

• Anger is often a mask for fear, grief, or feeling out of control.

• When your teen doesn’t have a safe way to release these emotions, they build—and explode.

• The yelling is a message: “I don’t feel safe, and I don’t have words for it.”

🫥 8. Perfectionism & People-Pleasing

• Especially common in girls.

• They do everything “right,” but feel like it’s never enough.

• Internally, they’re anxious, exhausted, and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

🚩 9. Stomach Aches, Headaches, and Other “Mystery” Symptoms

• When kids don’t have the words, the body speaks.

• Chronic pain, digestive issues, and frequent illness can all signal dysregulation—especially when medical tests come back clear.

🧠 10. “High-Functioning” on the Outside, Falling Apart Inside

• These are the kids who look fine to teachers, friends, even therapists.

• But at home? They cry in the shower. Shut down for hours. Whisper “I can’t do this anymore.”

• Please believe them. Just because they seem okay doesn’t mean they are.

Final Note:

Dysregulation isn’t bad behaviour. It’s a body in distress.

And when we understand that, we stop punishing or pathologising, and start supporting.

Because what these teens need isn’t tougher rules or longer lectures. They need nervous system repair.

And that’s exactly what yoga therapy offers.

🗓️ How to Join

1. Head to thegetco.com.au

   to view our program options

   
   

2. Join the waitlist

   New intakes open each term, with limited spots to ensure a safe space

   
   

3. Still unsure?

   Reach out for a free discovery call. We’re happy to chat through your child’s needs and see if this is the right fit.

If your teen is struggling, please know this: you haven’t failed.

They’re not broken. They’re not lazy .They’re not “just hormonal.”

They’re trying to survive in a world that’s constantly overstimulating, under-supportive, and emotionally confusing—and no one handed them a manual.

They’re doing the best they can with a nervous system that’s bracing, freezing, or flaring up just to get through the day.

But they don’t have to stay stuck.

At The GET Co., we’re here to offer something different: Not more behaviour charts. Not more labels. Not more pressure to talk when words don’t work.

We offer a way back through the body. Back through breath.Through movement.Through stillness that feels safe, not silent.Through connection that doesn’t overwhelm. Through rhythm that rebuilds trust.

Because when the nervous system feels safe—truly, deeply safe—Everything else begins to shift.

And we’d be honoured to walk that path with your teen. And with you.