Congratulations! Your child has crossed one important milestone in life. It is your milestone as well. However, the journey to the next one is full of challenges.
What does it mean?
A lot! It means to be parenting a teenager now. The role of parents has to undergo massive changes. Your involvement would increase more now. Their world view is gaining a larger proportion. Their academics would be more vast now. You will have to work more to ensure their successful education. For details of their academics please read my article 4.Jack and Jill in Junior classes.
They have reached a cross-over stage to adulthood. Believe me, it is a very delicate stage in life. They are neither the babies nor young adults, yet. They are adolescents. This age has its own problems.
Let's take up the case of Abraham. He studies in class 7 of a good school. His parents Robin and Rachel love him but lately, they are encountering a big change in his behavior. Till last year, he was good at studies but now they have started to get complaints from his teachers about his lack of concentration and misbehavior with friends.
Robin
took care to look deep. He could make it out as an
age-related problem. He decided to deal with it in the best possible
manner. So he contacted his elderly friend, Dr. Miller. He assured him this to be the natural process of growth and development for the child and he needs parental support to come back to his old self. Robin
also consulted various books and internet sites on the subject. He came to the following inferences:
Adolescence is the period of mental transition
from childhood to adulthood. The child was going through puberty.
Puberty
· Puberty
brings in physical, sexual, hormonal, emotional, neurological, social and
cognitive changes in children.
·
This process starts in girls from their age of 10-11 and continues up to 15-17.
·
In
case of boys, this begins at 11-12 and continues till their age of 16-17.
· It leads
to growth, changes, and functioning of the brain, muscle, bones, blood, skin,
hair, breasts, and sex organs.
·
Physical
growth is clearly visible in height and weight.
·
Both,
boys and girls develop secondary sexual characters.
· For
boys, it means a change in their voice from boyish to manly; the appearance of hair
on the face, in the armpits, and around the genitals.
·
Bodies of the girls get filled up. They start menstruating or getting their monthly periods.
·
It leads to the sexual maturation of these teenagers.
· These
changes occur because of the secretion of sex hormones that prepares their body for
sexual reproduction.
· The
fluctuating sex hormone levels may bring in the mood swings in them at times
because of their being powerful chemical agents.
We need to understand these changes to be too big and sudden for these
‘Children’. They need to get complete sexual education for a better
understanding of this process. Otherwise, they may have to face mood swings,
encounter fear from the unknown, develop a lack of control over their behavior, and experience
changes in attitudes, responsibility, behavior, etc. Obviously, it is time
for the parents’ concern.
Sometimes, it may even lead to clinical depression and anxiety. Some tell-tale signs need to be watched carefully by the parents.
These are as follows:
Sleep
disturbances
Their sleep cycle may go for a toss. The villain is a hormonal disturbance. It breaks the
sleep-cycle-rhythm. It may keep them unusually awake at night. It reduces their normal sleep hours and may result in irritation and lack of focus. It certainly would affect their academics and cause frustrations.
Immature
behavior
In some cases, there is a mismatch between the brain and the body. Their behavior may not match the grown-up
body. They cannot make good judgments, or think deeply, or understand the consequences of their actions. They may be mistaken as selfish, hasty, or even impulsive because it is difficult for them to
control their emotions like sorrow, anger, or even joy. Don't make the mistake of taking them as logical or rational thinkers during these emotional mood swings.
# Parenting # ParentingSkills # Parenthood # RoleOfParents
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