Social development in teens

The teenage years are tough on both parents and kids, but especially on the parents. During this period, your child is going to work on becoming an adult. They are going to face changes in their personality, but they are also going to face changes in their physical, intellectual, and social development. The teen years are crucial for social development because they are going to be facing many issues and decision making that they will never encounter again. How your teen ends up developing socially during these years is going to affect them when they are adults.

Here are some of the issues that can affect your teenager's social development.

Number one: Self-esteem
Self-esteem is how teenagers view themselves, how they feel about themselves. In order to make the change from child to adult successfully your teenager is going to need to have a positive self-image, but they are also going to need to have healthy self-esteem. With teenagers, it is very easy to develop low self-esteem, so what you need to do as a parent is encourage positive self-esteem in your teenager. One of the things that you can do to help build your teen's self-esteem is to encourage your child every day through words, tell your child that they are doing a great job, point out the things that your child is doing right rather than focusing on the mistakes that your child has made. You also need to be generous with your praise, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you do not need to tell them that you are proud of them; teens need to hear the praise.

There is going to come a time when you are going to have to offer your teen some criticism, when you are criticizing your teen you are going to want to offer them constructive criticism, rather than criticism that ridicules or shames them. Teaching your child how to make good decisions is also important for developing healthy self-esteem; to teach them about good decision making you will need to point out when your teen makes a good decision and bad decisions. Your teen is going to make mistakes, it is a part of life, and rather than protecting them from the mistakes, you will need to allow them to make these mistakes. By allowing them to learn from their mistakes you are teaching them about good decision making skills, but you are also making your teen more confident because you are showing them that you have faith in their abilities to do good.

Number two: Peer pressure
The older your child gets the more time they are going to be spending with friends than with their family. With the increased amount of time, that your teen is spending with their friends this can lead to friends influencing your teen's thinking and behavior. In some cases, peer pressure can be a positive influence in your child's life, such as getting your kid to do well in school or become involved in sports. Peer pressure can also become a negative influence in your teen's life, such as having unprotected sex, drinking or even doing drugs. As a parent, you are going to need to minimize the risk of the negative influences from peer pressure, but you are also going to have to maximize the positive influences. Here are some things that you can do to help you achieve your goal:
1. Maintain an open and honest relationship with your teen; encourage them to talk to you about everything. Having a good relationship with your teen increases the chance that they will come to you for advice about decisions or problems that they are facing.
2. Talk to your teen about what peer pressure is, make sure that they understand it can be both good and bad.
3. Reinforce the values that are important to your family
4. Teach your child how to be assertive. The best way to do this is to praise them for being assertive in the proper situations.
5. Give your teen room to make their own decisions, try to avoid telling them what to do all of the time. Let them make the decisions that they think are best and be there to guide them if they seek help.
6. Provide your teen with discipline. They need to learn early on that there are going to be consequences for their negative behaviors.

Number three: Tobacco, drugs, and alcohol
Twenty-five percent of teenagers between the ages of 12 to 17 have used drugs and alcohol, and 16 to 18 years old is the peak age for drinking and drug abuse. Both of these can be a serious problem and they can lead to serious or even fatal consequences. As a parent you need to talk to your teen about the dangers of using these things, research even shows that parents who talk to their kids about the risks of using tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs have a decreased risk of using them. The best thing that you can do is to set a good example, if you use drugs, drink to excess, or smoke you are showing your children that the behavior is acceptable.

As a parent you also need to know what your child is doing, you need to teach them that is okay for them to say no to this kind of behavior. You can teach your child how to say or no or better yet teach them to avoid situations where this kind of behavior might be going on. Your teen should also choose friends that do not use these substances, but that doesn't always happen, so you should always be aware of whom your teen's friends are. Encourage your teen and their friends to become involved in after-school activities that provide them with the opportunity to gather and socialize in a safe environment. Never let your teen attend parties that are not supervised.

Number four: Sex
Deciding whether to have sex is an important decision in your teen's life and only they can make it. You can talk to your teen about your beliefs on sex before being married, but the final decision lies with them. To help your teen make this important decision you should be open and honest about sex when you discuss it with your teen. This will also help you provide your teen with accurate information because they are going to learn about sex somewhere. If they learn about it from friends at school the information they receive might not be accurate, more importantly they might not reflect your family's personal and moral values that you wish for your children' to follow. Being open with your teen about sex also allows them to learn about the consequences of being sexually active, including pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases. Just remember that when you are discussing sex with your teen to focus on just the facts, but allow your teen to ask questions.

Number five: Tattoos and piercing
Every teen generation has their own fads that they follow and for the most part, the fads are harmless and fade away without resulting in any permanent damage. The exception is tattoos and piercings, which happen to be the two most popular fads in today's generation. Some parents do not mind this fad because they themselves like the piercings and tattoos, but others find this fad to be over the line. Tattoos and piercings can have a permanent effect on your teen's health, but it can also change their appearance permanently. Talk to your teen about how tattoos and piercings can affect their health, especially if a non-sterile needle is being used. You also need to talk to them about how piercings and tattoos can affect their future because of the careers that they choose. Many teens will have the response that they can always get them removed, what they are not aware of is that this is an expensive procedure, but it can also be painful and cause permanent discoloration of their skin.

Number six: Depression and suicide
While it is very common for teen to feel unhappy, there is a difference between being unhappy and being depressed. If your teenager is unhappy for more than two weeks or shows other symptoms, such as a loss of interest in food or compulsive overeating, they might be suffering from depression. Teenagers can become unhappy for a variety of reasons, at this age it seems like anything can set them off. However, if the normal things that they enjoy do not work to turn their mood around, the chances are high that they are suffering from depression. Depression in teens can be a difficult thing to deal with because it causes a major change in their thinking and behavior, but it can also cause teen to lose their motivation and even become withdrawn. While depression can be a serious problem, it is also treatable. If you ignore the signs and do not seek help for your teen, it can lead to even more problems, such as suicide. In fact, suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens and young adults in the United States. Every year 5,000 teens succeed in committing suicide, where around 500,000 teens attempt to commit suicide.