By Jennifer Little
The nature of being a teenager means there are certain problems every individual must face: physical changes that shift self-awareness and determine self-concept (often for the remainder of the individual's life), relationships with and responsibilities to parents and siblings at home, relationships with peers at school, and activities and responsibilities at school and in the community. All of these arise as the teenager shifts from being dependent and close to family members to becoming an independent young adult functioning in the ever-widening world around him/her.
Hormonal changes create the physical changes which direct attention and focus on the opposite sex as well as self and emotional swings (which teens are often unaware of as they emotionally react moment-to-moment). The growing brain functions drive teens to want to make decisions, although they are usually woefully unprepared for predicting outcomes and dealing with consequences of their actions, and separate themselves from the perceived over-protective parents who have difficulties with the volatile personality shifts and mental capabilities and resort to habitually treating them as children.
Their rejection of parents whom they perceive as not understanding them (and usually don't because it is difficult to understand a being so mercurial as a teenager) drives them to their peers. The teens' desire to be "unique" yet acceptable to their peers means their fashion sense blends with their friends' rather than what parents find acceptable. At all costs, they strive to have friends to isolate and protect them from the adversarial world of adults, yet those friends are also so self-consumed there is little protection. Each teen can shatter the flimsy veneer of acceptability by others with harsh and judgmental statements and comments that ridicule, bully, reject or condemn a fragile ego and emerging self-concept that will influence the individual's potentials for the remainder of his/her life.
All of these are problems that every person on the planet has experienced as part of their personal developmental processes. What current teens must deal with additionally, as adults are also, are the external influences of society (technology and media) that change our personal and group relationships (including governmental policies and functions) as well as our economy (currently shifting from economically-driven manufacturing to information management). Decades of habitual consumerism and selfish desires are being tempered by awareness of the interconnections of environmental impact (survival for all species) and all economies of the world.
Teenagers must face not only their personal development challenges but also how they are going to fit into a world of complex relationships among forces that may only seem as vague influences in their lives. What they must face are the economics of survival in a world that has outgrown the structures and rules of the past. Individuals' self-interests must submit to the needs of the greater good, and needs must take precedence over desires. This will change the balance of power in social and interpersonal relationships.
The question is: will teenagers be prepared for the world they must enter? Time will tell.
Jennifer Little, Ph.D.
All children can succeed in school. Parents can help their children by teaching the foundational skills that schools presume children have. Without the foundation for schools' academic instruction, children needlessly struggle and/or fail. Their future becomes affected because they then believe they are less than others, not able to succeed or achieve or provide for themselves or their families. Visit http://parentsteachkids.com to learn how to directly help your child and http://easyschoolsuccess.com to learn what is needed for education reform efforts to be successful.
The nature of being a teenager means there are certain problems every individual must face: physical changes that shift self-awareness and determine self-concept (often for the remainder of the individual's life), relationships with and responsibilities to parents and siblings at home, relationships with peers at school, and activities and responsibilities at school and in the community. All of these arise as the teenager shifts from being dependent and close to family members to becoming an independent young adult functioning in the ever-widening world around him/her.
Hormonal changes create the physical changes which direct attention and focus on the opposite sex as well as self and emotional swings (which teens are often unaware of as they emotionally react moment-to-moment). The growing brain functions drive teens to want to make decisions, although they are usually woefully unprepared for predicting outcomes and dealing with consequences of their actions, and separate themselves from the perceived over-protective parents who have difficulties with the volatile personality shifts and mental capabilities and resort to habitually treating them as children.
Their rejection of parents whom they perceive as not understanding them (and usually don't because it is difficult to understand a being so mercurial as a teenager) drives them to their peers. The teens' desire to be "unique" yet acceptable to their peers means their fashion sense blends with their friends' rather than what parents find acceptable. At all costs, they strive to have friends to isolate and protect them from the adversarial world of adults, yet those friends are also so self-consumed there is little protection. Each teen can shatter the flimsy veneer of acceptability by others with harsh and judgmental statements and comments that ridicule, bully, reject or condemn a fragile ego and emerging self-concept that will influence the individual's potentials for the remainder of his/her life.
All of these are problems that every person on the planet has experienced as part of their personal developmental processes. What current teens must deal with additionally, as adults are also, are the external influences of society (technology and media) that change our personal and group relationships (including governmental policies and functions) as well as our economy (currently shifting from economically-driven manufacturing to information management). Decades of habitual consumerism and selfish desires are being tempered by awareness of the interconnections of environmental impact (survival for all species) and all economies of the world.
Teenagers must face not only their personal development challenges but also how they are going to fit into a world of complex relationships among forces that may only seem as vague influences in their lives. What they must face are the economics of survival in a world that has outgrown the structures and rules of the past. Individuals' self-interests must submit to the needs of the greater good, and needs must take precedence over desires. This will change the balance of power in social and interpersonal relationships.
The question is: will teenagers be prepared for the world they must enter? Time will tell.
Jennifer Little, Ph.D.
All children can succeed in school. Parents can help their children by teaching the foundational skills that schools presume children have. Without the foundation for schools' academic instruction, children needlessly struggle and/or fail. Their future becomes affected because they then believe they are less than others, not able to succeed or achieve or provide for themselves or their families. Visit http://parentsteachkids.com to learn how to directly help your child and http://easyschoolsuccess.com to learn what is needed for education reform efforts to be successful.
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