Reaching the stage of adolescence is finding oneself in a difficult, confusing and sometimes awkward situation. It is the critical part of one’s life where one seeks his true identity. What actually happens is that a teenager is faced with circumstances and problems that adults often face. Whereas adults can easily deal with such problems, teenagers meet them for the first time.
Teenagers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Adults know who they are, what they need, and how to exactly obtain what they want. Teenagers, on the other hand, don’t always make the correct interpretation or the best decisions. From the point of view of experienced adults, teenagers do ridiculous things. Teenagers wrestle with problems that adults consider trivial. And teenagers make mistakes.
Yet, the mistakes of teenagers are also their opportunities to grow. They may make poor judgments about people and ideas, but instead of being given the third degree, teenagers must be guided to understand how they arrived at their wrong opinions. And more importantly, they must be taught on how to make the correct choices and how to arrive at logical conclusions.
Teenagers act impulsively. This is because they are eager to do the right thing. Adults must recognize that teenagers don’t purposely make mistakes. But teenagers are just not as equipped as adults in facing challenges.
While this is a discouraging fact, teenagers must still do their best in finding the “right answers”. Sometimes, the right answers cannot be found whole. Right answers are built up by lessons learned from past experiences. In fact, this is how adults seem to know the right thing.
Despite the many mistakes and false starts that teenagers make in their adolescent life, they must still persevere in becoming their “own person”. They still need to make choices, and accept the possibility that these choices may turn out wrong. They still need to make decisions and must bear the consequences of these decisions. And they still need to make commitments and follow through with them. All these things that they have to do demand courage and persistence. And teenagers must be respected for taking on these tasks.
Adults, such as parents, must also be courageous in staying beside the teenager. Adults should remember what it was like to be confused and embarrassed. And adults should not get frustrated when teenagers make mistakes. What teenagers need is the support coming from parents, relatives, and neighbors.
When teenagers receive support, they can better face the challenges of adolescence. They are more inspired to do their best. And only when teenagers do their best can they become the best adults that they can be.
