English Essay Part Two

Surviving Your Teenager

Angie Amos

Dr. Nancy Foreman

Outline

1. Introduction: An overview of problems that teenagers experience

: Background of the essay

: Relevance of the essay

: Thesis: Argument

2. Body: Major problems that teenagers experience

: Psychological issues: Low self-esteem

: Stress

: Bullying

: Desire to belong to a group

: Peer pressure

: Physical complications: Eating Disorders

: Child abuse

: Underage sex

: Drug Abuse

: Teenage pregnancy

Possible Recommendations: Ideal parental support

: Guidance and Counselling

3. Conclusion

Introduction

An overview of the problems that teenagers face

It has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the most reasonable time in the lives of human beings is the adolescent period. This is appoint in time when all teenagers all over the world experience either the same or slightly different complication in terms of their psychological, cognitive, spiritual as well as cognitive development. Ranging from self-esteem issues, teenage pregnancies and drug abuse down the list of peer pressure, these problems cannot even begin to cover an inch of the never-ending challenges that teenagers face on a daily basis. This essay brings to light all of teenage issues.

Background of the essay

The interaction between time and history has made society realize that the best way to secure the future generations of all creatures in the world including the human race is to ensure that it curves tomorrow’s leaders into eloquent represtatives that will form the backbone of formidable administrations in the whole world. It is for the same reason that various stakeholders that are concerned with the welfare of teenagers have teamed up in an effort to see to it that the challenges that teenagers face does not stand in the way of the future generations of all humankind.

Relevance of the essay

The relevance of this essay is to enable parents to offer their teenage children the best of all types of support ranging from psychological, emotional and cognitive as well. Ideally, once this happens, it is quite obvious that the love hate relationship that exists between parents and their teenage children will change for the better. Additionally, this essay aims to enlighten the whole world about the numerous list of endless complications that surround the lives of teenagers right from the dawn of each day till nightfall. Most importantly, the impact that this study has in the real world will be discussed ideally in the essay to follow.

Thesis

The relationship between parents and their teenage children should be based on love, support and understanding rather than disrespect, hate and arrogance since teenagers are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but they are also future parents as well.

Argument

In a political perspective, politicians would like to argue that teenagers are the leaders of tomorrow while on the other side; teenagers bear the opinion that tomorrow is one of the days of the month that will never come. In that sense, instead of shoving teenagers off and punishing them brutally for having committed the common mistakes that normal teenagers do, it is the obligation of both parents, guardians, relatives, friends as well as neighbors to ensure that the teenagers turn out as the most reliable noble men history has ever heard of.

Body

Major challenges that teenagers face

Physical Challenges

Low self-esteem: It is not an uncommon feature exhibited by most teenagers. Low self-esteem when poorly handled has the potential of shaping a teenager into someone they never knew they might turn out to be. Low self esteem is in most cases associated with body image that each teenager displays for the whole world to see. It is wise to note that at adolescence, the body starts responding to growth and development hormones so fast that the teenagers themselves can hardly fathom In the event of this growth, some may develop body image issues of worse psychological complications such as self-torture.

Stress: The discomfort and lack of assertion in different fields of life such as the pressure to meet academic expectations, parent’s desires and at the same time focus on progressing positively in spiritual matters is what causes this type of stress. Once stress sets in, health complications that are associated with excessive levels of stress begin creeping in slowly. As time goes by, the teenagers lose concentration in almost all aspects of life and this is one of the surest ways that end up destroying their lives especially if neglected by both the parent and the teenager (Siegel, 2014).

Bullying: Less than three decades before today, bullying was one of the nightmares that high school students dreaded of getting involved with in all of their secondary education life. Bullying occurs when a teenager that is less privileged in one way or the other falls victims of the mean or rather malicious teasing, physical and psychological torture emanating from students with an upper hand. Such type of activities affect the lives of teenagers to an extent of making them develop habits such as aggressive behavior, a thing that may have not been initially noted in their DNA.

The desire to belong to a group: It goes without being mentioned that it is only human nature to want to belong to something bigger in life. Being part of a greater community is embedded in the genetic make up of human beings creating the impression that this is the sole reason why families, clans and extended families came into existence. In the same mentality, teenagers face the challenge of wanting to belong to the most coolest hang out of close friends and relatives, a thing that may in one way or the other end up changing the course of their lives. Peer pressure cannot be underestimated as it has the capability of totally altering the mindset of even the most genius of all teenagers.

Peer pressure: As mentioned in the initial paragraph, the impacts that peer pressure is capable of influencing the lives of innocent teenagers is far too marginal to be ignored. Peer pressure is mostly associated with the density of wanting to meet all the expectations laid forward by different groups of teenagers. This affects the growth and development of the teenager since instead of engaging in activities that they truly want, they end up participating in actions that they detest just for the desire of measuring up to the expectations of different peer groups.

Physical Complications

Eating Disorders: Most teenagers experience poor eating habits that are in several occasions associated with either taking too much food or completely taking no food at all. In relation to those that take so much food, chances of lining up in a career of obesity cannot be overruled since too much intake of fats without engaging the body in ideal exercises has a higher chance of predisposing the body to obesity than any other physical activity. On the other side of the coin, teenagers and mostly girls like to skip meals in an effort to maintain a lean and athletic figure. They are usually under the impression that starvation is the key to avoiding eating disorders.

Child abuse: This is both physical and psychological. Child abuse occurs when teenagers fall victim of secluded job opportunities within which their respective employers oppress them by utilizing their services for very low wages. For teenagers who lack perfect guidance and counselling from their parents and older members of the family, they may end up working in drug production areas or worse still could be turned into child prostitutes. In most developing nations in Africa, child abuse has proved to be a dark and rather act but rather quite lucrative in an economic view. For example, teenagers as young as twelve years are being sold into prostitution by either their parents or their own selves (Davies, 2013).

Underage Sex: A mentioned in the previous paragraph, teenage females end up being victims of old men who are out to exploit the sexual services that children are being forced to offer just for the mere sake of very meagre payments. In another perspective, this is not only the problem that teenagers experience but it is also the type of life that they find themselves leading by the passage of each and every second. Unger age sex has been labelled as a serious crime in basically all nations across the globe, but this does not stop the old men and the poor parents of the children from engaging in the heinous act.

Drug Abuse: Last year alone in United States, the administration of former President Obama attempted to increase the age limit of consumption of alcohol from 18 to 21. This move sparked a series of controversial opinions from all corners of the world including teenagers, the producers and manufacturers of different brands of alcohol. Some had the opinion that it was uncalled for and ideally a farfetched idea to decide to hike the drinking age as this will not stop the state from selling alcohol to customers as low as twelve years. Smoking pot and abusing other hard drugs like coke can have negative impacts on the lives of teenagers as it opens for them a life of drug addiction and mental instability.

Teenage pregnancies: Word has it that teenage pregnancies are the worst nightmares that a teenager can cause a parent especially when they are still under the roof of their parents. Most teen pregnancies are usually unplanned and unforeseen but due to firm religious doctrines , social ethics and morality, there is usually no better or safe option than simply keeping the baby. This is the greatest worry of all parents. They feel that their teenage daughter is far too immature to enroll on a journey of parenthood at such a young age (Steinberg, 2014).

Conclusion

Possible Recommendations

Ideal Parental Support coupled with appropriate guidance and counselling: The wisest of all men had an adage that stated that one word is enough for the wise. This simply means that for all the intellectual parents, there is good news as far as dealing with their teenagers is concerned. The first recommendation that parents need to consider is according their children all the support they ever needed alongside understanding. Guidance and counselling experts advice parents to step into the shoes of their sons and daughters as this will enable them view the challenges that their children experience from a whole new perspective. Instead of seeing the children as an opportunity to escape from home and avoid their issues, they should see this as a chance to bond with each other since they have been there, done that.

References

Davies, C. (2013). Teenagers and Technology. New YORK, N Y. Sage

Siegel, D. (2014) Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain. Indiana.

ParentMagic, Inc.

Steinberg, L. (2014) Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence. Boston.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.