When we think of the term “burnout,” we usually first imagine an adult who is overwhelmed and exhausted due to the demands of work, but possibly also family responsibilities or a combination of other factors. In such cases, a doctor may prescribe sick leave, the individual takes time to recover, relieve accumulated stress, and then—usually after several months—gradually returns to the work environment and everyday life. However, burnout also occurs in children—they too can become overwhelmed and show signs of exhaustion and the need for rest. Yet in their case, the phenomenon is treated differently—why is that?
An elementary school child does not have the option to disconnect from school without consequences. Absence from classes can affect academic performance, academic self-confidence, social standing in the classroom, and a sense of safety within the school environment. This is precisely why childhood burnout is an especially sensitive issue and, at the same time, a topic that is still discussed far too little.
What is burnout in the school context?
Burnout is the result of the body’s long-term response to stressors from the environment. It is a state of psychophysical and emotional exhaustion that affects a child’s motivation, learning, and general well-being. Academic burnout in children manifests as a weakening of interest in school and a reduced curiosity about the outside world, resulting from the inability to cope with the heavy burden of school obligations.
Research also confirms that burnout is connected to certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, low self-efficacy, or high achievement motivation (a very strong tendency in a child to strive for success), as well as excessive sensitivity to environmental stimuli (so-called hypersensitivity—an increased sensitivity to internal and external stimuli, causing the child to experience environmental demands, expectations, and their own successes and failures more intensely). Burnout is also associated with age—the older the children or adolescents are, the more frequently symptoms of burnout appear. In the final three years of elementary school in Slovenia, between 10 and 15% of adolescents are reportedly experiencing school burnout.
Why don’t we talk about burnout in children more often?
The first reason may be that we still understand school as an obligation that a child simply has to endure, where learning is viewed as a duty rather than a developmental process. As a result, fatigue and resistance are quickly interpreted as a lack of discipline or effort.
At the same time, children often do not yet know how to properly describe inner exhaustion and instead express it through behavioral changes such as withdrawal, irritability, or psychosomatic problems, which adults may misinterpret. As a result, dialogue about burnout never truly develops. In addition, high expectations regarding achievement are a social norm. Academic success is often linked, even among Slovenians, to self-worth and confidence in one’s future socioeconomic security, making it difficult to acknowledge that the very system demanding constant achievement can overwhelm a child.
The gap in recognizing burnout in children also stems from how differently we understand schooling compared to work. Schooling is often perceived primarily as a natural part of growing up and learning, rather than as an activity involving long-term demands, pressure, and responsibilities similar to those found in the workplace. This is why we naturally associate burnout with the adult world, creating a blind spot. Although research clearly shows that academic burnout occurs even among elementary school children, it is still perceived as rare rather than as a genuine risk.
Burnout is a complex issue that must be addressed on multiple levels of a child’s life—in the family, at school, and within the broader social environment.
Causes of burnout in children
Although burnout in children is similar to adult burnout in terms of symptoms, it differs in its causes and effects on the individual due to the differing characteristics of each stage of life. In the school context, it develops gradually when a child experiences pressure over a longer period without a sense of internal control and without sufficient support.
The reasons are multifaceted:
socio-culturally conditioned expectations regarding academic success
increasingly extensive curricula
personality traits of the child (perfectionism, hypersensitivity)
high parental expectations
learning difficulties and repeated experiences of failure
external pressures, including family conflicts and poor-quality relationships between students and teachers
Children are highly perceptive of pressures in their environment. They strongly sense adults’ expectations, regardless of whether these are expressed directly or not. Contrary to expectations, it often happens that well-intentioned parental pressure for a child’s success has the opposite effect—the child begins to achieve poorer results, loses motivation, and experiences declining self-confidence. This naturally raises an important question: when does good intention cross the line and become something that actually harms the child? We will discuss this in the next article, “Childhood Burnout: When Expectations Become Pressure, and What Comes Next?”
Childhood burnout: When expectations become pressure, and what comes next?