The Turmoil of being a Teenager
The teenage years is a time of stress conflict and inner turmoil. A time of searching exploring "Who am I?" What am I meant to become and who will help me unravel all the developmental traumas along the way? There are two main forces of adolescence the onset of sexuality and the mandate that teenagers will move away from their parents gradually and from being an infant to childhood and on to adolescence and move further away from their parents. Developmentally the pathways during adolescence are pretty similar for both genders. It's also psychologically normal for teenagers to go through a pathway of unexplainable and often unpredictable social behaviours leaving parents confused and anxious. This leads to parental misperceptions and gross misunderstandings as their beloved children begin to explore their personal and group identities. We know from adolescent research findings that innocuous events such as a mum or dad going into a teenagers room when they are listening t...