How Can We Help Our Teenagers? (1/2)
Raising teenagers in these testing times.
Aimen was often sent to the office for creating trouble. I usually initiated the discussion by asking her what might have gone wrong. Every single time I felt that her action was a reaction. Not justifying any of her wrongs, there was always so much more to a punch or a push.
Being a child is hard.
Adolescence is marred with challenges like bodily changes, academic expectations, lack of autonomy, fitting in and bullying. Bullying is not always a child overturned in a dumpster. Bullying comes in a lot of shapes and sizes. Often the kind that leaves the deepest wounds entails slow, quiet and consistent unkind slashes that make it extremely hard for a child to fit in.
As adults, it becomes easy to take friendships for granted. We tend to meet our friends once in a blue moon, over lunch or coffee. It’s as civil as it gets.
Children, on the other hand, live in a social jungle.. constantly trying to belong and looking for validation.
Every action that is laughed on and every joke that is not, leaves a scar. As adults, we crave ‘alone time’. On the contrary, children fear loneliness the most. The day when their friends choose to ignore them is the most horrible day ever.
Unfortunately, these days preteens and teens are depressed in large numbers. These are challenging times to be a child. Can we do anything to help in this situation?
I am covering that in part II of this post.
