Stella Blaylock has not been sleeping well since before Christmas, when her father was furloughed in the partial government shutdown and unexpectedly extended his holiday vacation. Days later, her mother was laid off from her job as a federal contractor.

A sixth grader at Williamsburg Middle School in Arlington, Va. — a Washington, D.C., suburb home to thousands of government workers — Stella now worries whether her parents will be able to scrape together enough money for her braces, or whether a planned overnight camp in June will have to be deleted from the family’s calendar.

“The shutdown makes me nervous,” said Stella, 11, whose father, a foreign service officer, was furloughed for a week but is now working without pay.

Now in its fourth week, the government impasse that has upended the daily lives of thousands of federal employees has also affected young people across America, from children who are agonizing alongside their parents over lost jobs and wages to college students unable to pay tuition or file financial aid forms.