Parents tend to be apprehensive about raising teens. They hear horror stories and wonder how they would handle common teen problems? Teens have problems for many reasons but not all teens have problems that escalate to unmanageable levels. It is possible to be able to parent a teen in such a fashion as to be able to nurture and assist teens to learn how to handle the problems that come there way.
Teens are going through many changes physically, mentally and emotionally, which makes handling problems difficult. They are growing cognitively as well as physically so the ability to think and problem solve has to be developed to the point that they are capable of managing problems. This is the reason for adult supervision and guidance. A teen is not necessarily equipped to make decisions that are life changing such as handling teen pregnancy, and teen alcoholism. Behavior problems are often at the bottom of such problems.
Teens perfect the defiance behavior in a bid for independence. Kids of all ages like to test the waters and see how far they can push limits. Teens just have had a lot of experience testing and pushing parents and other adults to find out how far they are able to bend the rules or to discover if an adult actually cares about what they do.
How do you know when a behavior a teen is exhibiting is “normal” and when the behavior could potentially turn into something serious?
If you were to ask teens what problems other teens face they might talk about problems handling sex and HIV/AIDS/STD, teen pregnancy, drugs, drinking in general and drinking while driving, and depression.
If you ask parents what problems teens face, you might get the following answers:
Rebellion against parents and school officials
Under age drinking
Drug abuse
Multiple sexual partners and sexual promiscuity
Anger or hostility towards self or others
Depression
It is vital to keep the lines of communication open between adult and teen if there is to be any hope for assisting a teen to handle behavior problems.
When you sit down with a teen to discuss this issue, what do you say first?
The first thing that needs to happen is to set a policy for confidentiality and to go over what rights the teen has. Ask the teen about questions they have regarding the issues that concern you and them. Find out what the real facts are concerning the extent of the problem. Are they really having sex or just talking about it? If they are having sex how many partners have they had? How much and where do they get the alcohol or drugs? Once you have set the policy, rights and know the facts then it is time to hear the teen’s side and to discuss what your beliefs are. Discuss consequences and what the teen would do if such a scenario occurred? Often times teens have not thought about consequences and need to be made aware of what may happen if certain behaviors are allowed to continue.
To address teen behavior problems teens first need to know ground rules. They need to know what the consequences will be for breaking the rules. They also need to know why the rules are necessary. Teens need to know what parents and guardians think about teen issues. What is your view on drinking and driving, drug abuse, multiple sexual partners, and smoking?
Parents and other adults need to understand that actions speak louder than words. If you make a rule about alcohol, drugs or sex and explain why it is that the rule is necessary and then the adult breaks the rule, teens will weigh the action more than the words. Parents and other adults need to be good role models if they expect teens to behave in a manner that will be healthy or themselves and others.
Source:
Adolescent Health Issues http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:0WqkJLl4ZpwJ:capanet.org/2007ConfPresentations/AdolescentHealthIssuesFinal.pdf+list+of+teen+problems&cd;=3&hl;=en&ct;=clnk≷=us
