What Adolescents Need

By: Nely Cianne R. Dumpit

According to Wikipedia, Parenting is the process of promoting the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. It is a very important task that requires two people who are fully mature and ready to engage themselves for family responsibilities. Parenting will never be an easy task, because it is the foundation of child’s values and conduct.

The home is the first school of children, and the parents are their first teachers. Parents hold a big responsibility of taking care and nurturing their sons and daughters, and monitoring the certainty that their children are growing up properly. Every parent needs to watch and guide the children until they become physically and emotionally mature. They should keep on giving advices and life reflections that will guide and help their children in future.

The school serves as the children’s second home, and the educators act as their second parents. The school is a ground for children to develop their skills and talents. Also, the teacher’s role is to supervise and encourage the children to study hard and learn to interact with others.

As humans, we are influenced by different factors in our environment. We are being cultivated by what we see and observe around us. I believe that the most crucial stage of a person’s life is the stage of being an adolescent, or the teenage life. This is the time where we are trying to discover more about ourselves and our environment. The teenage life is the evolution of one’s attitude and it is necessary that the parents and guardians discipline their children while also considering their insides and position about the circumstance that occurs.  

Teenagers have difficulties in making right decisions that is why they tend to be risk takers. When things get emotional, most teenagers experience difficulty in controlling themselves. In this case, parental supervision is highly necessary to clear their chaotic minds. Poor parental supervision and extreme family problems cause most teenagers torealize that it might be best for them tojust stay away from their homes and prefer to be with their peers doing illegals.

Why do teenagers commit crimes? A survey conducted in UK show some factors why children commit crimes, it is shown there that 64% of the teenagers who committed crime is because of peer influence, then47 % shows that it is because of poor parental guidance and 36% are because of having no interest to school. Even there are different factors that influenced or leads the teenagers to commit crimes, I would say that it isstill because of poor parental guidance, because a teenager would never do any harm and illegal if he/she receives a proper love, care, and advice from his/her parents.

As time passes by, everything changes, from a simple life to a complicated one. Everyone becomes more competitive and aggressive. The parents are more concernedwith their jobs rather than paying attention to their children. Nannies become children’s parents and video games become their playmates. Yes, the parents are constantly working hard for their children’s future, to provide their needs, and also to give them the things that will make them happy,but are they sure that is all they need? Their presence is more important than any material thing that they give to their children. “Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It’s about hanging on during a very bumpy ride.”- Ron Taffel