When Your Teen Can’t Get Out of Bed for School

You’re not imagining it. This is hard. And you’re not the only one living it.

There’s a moment many parents never talk about. The one where you stand outside your teen’s bedroom door in the early morning, already tired, already bracing yourself. You know you need to wake them up, but part of you is scared of how the next few minutes will go. Sometimes you pause longer than you mean to, because a deep breath feels safer than opening the door.

If you’ve been there, I have too.

My mornings used to look different. I thought they would be simple: breakfast, backpacks, shoes, out the door. But now they’re full of quiet hesitation and this growing pressure in my chest, like I’m tiptoeing through someone else’s storm.

Some mornings it’s a whisper from under the blankets — “not today.” Other mornings it’s silence so heavy I can feel it in the hallway. And then there are the days when everything inside me wants to shout, but I swallow it, because I know this isn’t defiance. It’s fear or sadness or something I still don’t fully understand.

I used to think I was the only one struggling like this. That everyone else’s kids were up and dressed while mine was frozen in a place between wanting to go and not being able to move. It felt lonely in a way I didn’t expect. No one prepares you for the emotional weight of mornings that start with uncertainty instead of routine.

But I’ve learned I’m not alone.
And you’re not either.

You’re not a bad parent for finding this hard. You’re not dramatic for feeling overwhelmed before the day even begins. You’re not making this up or imagining it or failing at something everyone else seems to manage.

You’re raising a young person who is fighting something internal and heavy, and you are doing your best to meet them where they are. Even on the days you’re exhausted. Even on the days you want to cry on the kitchen floor. Even on the days you wonder if this is your new normal.

You’re trying.
I’m trying.
Many of us are trying.

And sometimes that honesty is the only starting point we need.