Parents may have forgotten what it was like to go through puberty. According to Psychology Today writer David Schwartz LMFT, puberty can be emotionally overwhelming to adolescents. Your tween or teen may be experiencing emotional difficulty as their body changes.
According to David Schwarts LMFT, adolescents start to experience a whole new world of feelings when they reach puberty. They start to have emotions, recognizing their own sexuality and longing for closeness with others of their own age. This can create an overwhelming sense of change and uncertainty.
Many adolescents aren’t sure what is happening to them. Parents can help by talking to their child about sexuality and the changes that come with it. Unfortunately, many parents do not have these types of discussion with their adolescent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided parents with some information on how young teens develop. Children in this age group might:
- Show more concern about body image, looks, and clothes.
- Focus on themselves; going back and forth between high expectations and lack of confidence.
- Experience more moodiness.
- Show more interest and influence by peer group.
- Express less affection toward parents; sometimes might seem rude or short-tempered.
- Feel stress from more challenging school work.
- Develop eating problems.
- Feel a lot of sadness or depression, which can lead to poor grades at school, alcohol or drug use, unsafe sex, and other problems.
Parents can help their child by showing an interest in your teen’s school life, and by getting to know your teen’s friends. Parents should be honest and direct with their teen when talking about sensitive subjects such as drugs, drinking, smoking, and sex.
Parents need to learn the balance between helping their teen make healthy choices while encouraging them to make their own decisions. Your teen needs you to respect their opinions and take into account their thoughts and feelings. It is very important that a teen knows that their parents are listening to them.
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Recognizing Teenage Depression