Difficulties for Dealing with Teenagers and Adolescents
Difficulties for Dealing with Teenagers and Adolescents
Few parents today realize the need to change the way they deal with children as they grow up. Even the most caring adults frequently misunderstand teenagers. This isn’t due to a lack of effort; it has more to do with inaccurate stereotypes and portrayals of teenagers. The word teenager, for an instance, brings up an image of a rebellious, outrageously dressed, young person who loves to party, listen to annoying music and watch MTV. Teenagers are often very complex, but they are also not impossible to understand. When the world speaks of or thinks of “teenagers” they are likely to have a stereotype ideal in mind, and this often creates an unfortunate barrier that does not allow us to appreciate the individuality of each young person in the world today.
Too often teenagers are treated as if they were just big toddlers or large children. The general view of parents today seems to be that children are “their” property and should learn to please them and obey their commands. This maybe true for toddlers but as growing young adults the role of parents is to assist a child into becoming an independent, responsible adult. This cannot happen unless the teenager is allowed to make some decisions for themselves. Not wild guesses or decisions based on their desires but informed based on considerations of the facts and the consequences of different actions.
Statistics have shown that during different stages of a person life the way they are treated changes dramatically. When an infant is born they are shown lots of attention, encouragement, affection and total acceptance. Then as they go off to elementary school their parents become more involved in their life, they encourage and teach them and have appropriate expectations. As they get into high school, things start to change. Their parents say they have unrealistic expectations, over-interest in life, and focus too much on their friends and the type of people they are. These are the preconceived attitudes that are often shown to children from their parents.
Teenage years are very crucial time in which it’s a time for young adults to figure out who they are and what they stand for. In order to do this, teenagers have to consider things and explore things for themselves. They will find out for themselves why things are valuable and will be...