From standardized tests and heavy homework loads to after-school sports and tutors, elementary-aged children are taking on more responsibilities than ever before. Despite the popular notion that kids today are coddled, many experts believe they are actually under more stress than previous generations.

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Stress can have alarming effects on kidsIn a 2011 article in the American Journal of Play, researcher Peter Gray found that kids have to spend much more time on school- and adult-directed activities than their parents or grandparents did. And today?s kids face higher expectations. A 2016 study from the US Department of Education found that teachers in 2010 were 33 percent more likely to expect kindergartners to enter school knowing the alphabet and how to hold a pencil than they were in 1998. And, in 2010, 80 percent expected kindergartners to learn to read by the end of the year compared with 31 percent in 1998. School stress

Rachael Martin says that her son Alexander?s school stress started in kindergarten. ?I think it started with some expectations that his teacher had,? says Martin. ?She treated the kindergartners like they were little adults.?
Alexander was diagnosed with ADHD around the time he started kindergarten. He?s frequently distrac...