Today’s teenagers have been stereotyped as adventurous and harebrained individuals.  They are generally fond of experimenting with things until they get in touch with drugs, sex, guns, alcohol among others. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures, 16,000 young adults die each year from unintentional injuries and accidents.  The most common justification for teenagers’ care-free attitude is that their brains just aren’t developed enough to know better. However, recent research shows that in some cases the fact is just the opposite, the brain matures not too slowly but perhaps, too quickly.

According to a psychiatrist, an adolescent who engages in more dangerous activities have white-matter pathways that seem to be more mature than those of risk-averse youths.  White-matter is the brain’s wiring, the neutral pathways that connect the various gray-matter regions of the cerebrum that are independent of one another.  Having a mature white-matter is necessary because it allows faster brain processing speed.  Nerve impulses also travel faster in mature white-matter. Experiments also reveal that the more mature the look of the brain, the more adventurous the teenager tended to be.
Another possible explanation is that some teenagers whose brains develop more rapidly than others become uncomfortable and a little confused owing to the gap between their biological capabilities and the social norms they must follow as kids. Precocious development of these neural tracts may make some adolescents more susceptible to engage in behaviors that society considers too adult in nature for their chronological age. It is also a common notion that teens make dumb decisions because their brains are immature. In other words, having a more mature brain may actually motivate some teens to try out new and potentially harmful experiences.
For now, these theories are mere speculation, and the researchers concede that the interaction of white and gray matter is so complex that hard conclusions remain elusive. The results of the study are relatively bare and by no means conclusive. The human brain is so intricate in nature, and one has to consider the fact that there are other factors that come into play such as the environment and certain genetic predispositions that are equally complex to study.

Just recently, CNN reported a heart-breaking news about a Berkeley teen who was convicted in the murder of his father. The victim was raising three kids on his own when one of them, for reasons unknown, murdered him with a gunshot to the head.  The judge handling the case found the 16-year-old teen guilty of first-degree murder with an enhancement for using a gun in the death of his 40-year-old father.

When the teen was sentenced, the judge could have him locked up in the California Division of Juvenile Justice until he reaches the age of 25. He could also face a variety of other sentences, including being placed on probation and sent home, being sent to a group home or placed in minimum security reform centers. Regardless of what happens, a life was lost and the life of the teenager and those of his siblings are put in jeopardy with the uneventful passing of their father who is supposed to guide them in today’s chaotic environment.

Teen violence is increasingly becoming one of the most serious problems of modern society. It is a curse not only for the victim but for his/her family and the entire society as well. It is also responsible for thousands of deaths every year around the world.  This kind of violence alienates the victim from his/her family, friends and loved ones. Teenagers who engage in violence, generally try to keep themselves away from everyone. Psychologists explain that they do so for the sake of getting away from social embarrassment. Teen abuse lawyers advocate that the victim must get proper legal support at such delicate phase of her/his life.

Young adults are complicated, inquisitive, and filled with potential. Once left unchecked, they can blow up in a million pieces, causing problems resulting to irreparable damage or even death. This is precisely the reason why parents are endowed with the moral obligation to guide their teens during this crucial stage in their lives.

Oftentimes teenagers find their peer groups to be more significant to them than their parents. This being the case, it is as if parents are handling over the life of their teen to the type of group he/she may belong to. With this change come different expectations. This is why friends are such a key developmental and influential factor in the teenage years. Many teens who get involved in gangs are simply trying to live out their new group’s expectations rather than their parents’. Adolescents are all on an equal plane when it comes to violent behavior. Regardless of background, almost all adolescents become significantly more violent after puberty and it drops off again somewhere in their mid-20s.

It is amazing how fast things can change; how pure innocence can turn to arrogance and adventuresome. It seems up until your first year in high school, you feel safe from anything. You are preoccupied with life as how you knew it from the start, when in school you’re intrigued to hear rumors in junior high, they’re usually about who likes who, and who broke up with who. It just seems so naive. But when you stepped into high school, it becomes an entirely different ballgame. Somehow you seem to have been stripped of all your innocence. Suddenly you become vulnerable to the evils that you knew nothing about before. It seems the only thing people talk about is either sex or drug use. We all know of so many personalities who have so much potential to do great things in life, but threw it all away when they started to use drugs.

This is the daunting scenario that we have today. We are aware of it, the government is aware of it, law enforcers are aware of it but still the nagging problem persists and threatens the fragile future of our youth today. Numbers don’t lie. Nearly half of all high school seniors in America have experimented with illegal drugs and about three quarters have tried alcohol. A study conducted on the drug use prevalence among high school seniors in the US revealed the following: 41.8% have tried marijuana and at least 5% uses it everyday; 7.8% have used cocaine; 1.5% have tried heroin; 72.2% have used alcohol and 3.1% take alcohol daily; 6.5% have tried ecstasy; 8.4% have tried using hallucinogens (LSD, Magic Mushrooms, Peyote); and at least 15.4% have reported having used prescription drugs (Vicodin, OxyContin etc.) to get high. These are alarming statistics but equally disturbing is how easily high school students can get hold of these prohibited drugs. The dilemma that we have today is worse than what our parents had to deal with; and at the rate things are going it is quite likely that by the time you have kids, the situation will be ten times worse than what it is today.

The problem should be addressed now with more stringent measures and from different fronts. It should be a collective and conscious effort from the government, school administrations and more importantly the parents. Parents should be educated about the dangers facing their teens today because they are for real and are likely to stay if nothing is done to stem the problem. The government should make laws with much more teeth in them so as to deter drug dealers and manufacturers who are selling these substances like pancakes. Schools must have more effective screening and monitoring systems to keep drugs away from their vicinity and thus give their students a good shot for a productive college life.  Illicit drugs seem to fall in and out of favor with experimental youths.  But one thing is constant, more and more teens are experimenting with it. The perils are great and more threatening than ever, but studies consistently show that teens whose parents talk to them about drugs are at a much lower risk to experiment.

 Directing a child and guiding him to adulthood, to embed morals and values in them, to help discuss relationships, and to notice innovative ideas, goals, standards, principles and independence surface in your teenager is a quest. In every adventure, the delight is always in the entire journey.
 
Challenges dominated enhance the victory, and as disappointment is a part of it and cant be avoided, not a soul can be familiar with the stability of success and failure until the journey is complete. As long as the journey continues, there is always a hope to turn loses into achievement, flaws to strengths.
 
In every adventure, the challenges are exclusive to every explorer. Parents having two children will experience different challenges as they guide each child from beginning to end of their teenage years. Because every journey is only one of its kinds, there are no shortcuts or any way to make the bumps smooth, anticipate the various challenges coming our way or explode the landmines from before. Nevertheless, there are certain aspects of the journey that appear to be bliss.
 
Even though adolescents will choose their own was ultimately, an excellent home life can add to the chances that children will shun numerous of the pitfalls of teenage years. Mainly, a kind, affectionate, warm, firm connection with parents who reveal love and admiration for their kids, take a keen concern in their children’s actions, and place firm limitations for all those activities which may unswervingly or ultimately prevent criminal activity, negative peer pressure, unlawful drugs and alcohol use, law-breaking, low self-respect and low confidence
 
Parents who give their adolescents their support, love, care, time, boundaries and encouragement to think and analyze for themselves may find that they are actually enjoying their children’s journey through adolescence.
 
As they see their children grow in independence, making decisions, and develop into young adults, they may find that the child they have reared is a wonderful feeling just like the view of their newborn they held for the first time – far better than they could have ever imagined.
 
If adolescence is conceptualized as an adventure from childhood to adulthood, parenting adolescents can be called the journey itself.
 
Adolescence is a trying time of life for both teenagers and their families. The main challenge for teenagers is to form their own identity. The person they want to be. This is a difficult thing for the adolescence because while forming an identity, most of the adolescence try on a variety of personas.
 
Adolescence is a confusing phase of life for the teens. As parents it is your duty to help your teen work through adolescence.
 

Adolescents are at high risk for such behaviors as drug or alcohol abuse, pregnancy, brutality, cruelty, dejection, depression or suicide. One of the difficulties parents face is how to recognize the more restrained indicators of such behavioral problems and when and how to get involved.
 
The reasons why parents delay in helping their struggling adolescence is the confusion about whether their child is actually a troubled teen or not. They don’t know the habits of a troubled teen and when do they really need to help them. Many parents have a tendency to compare their own children with other children.
 
Although it is very enticing to compare your own children to other adolescents do avoid this tendency. This only triggers offense and discouragement in teenagers. Every person should be treated as a unique individual. Otherwise, the teens get discouraged. Parents can see for themselves if their child is troubled or in a self-destructive path and will do the best they can to help them. Parents should trust their instincts and seize all the necessary actions before the situation worsens.
 
Several adolescents grow to be skilled manipulators, extremely secretive and skilled at wriggling out of any situation. If the parents don’t keep a check on them, these teens can effortlessly influence and manipulate the situation so that the parent feels things are stable.
 
Is your teen disturbed or is your child just an ordinary adolescent facing the increasing pains of becoming an adult? There are some signs of a truly troubled teenager. The following Parenting tips would help you to be always cautious and on the watch out for your teens. If you doubt your child is a troubled teen, take actions quickly.
 
Signs of a troubled teen:
 
·         The teen becomes very secretive, and desires       The teen becomes very secretive, and desires greater privacy and isolation.
·         Your teen has unexpected outbursts of irritation and annoyance that is evidently irrational and out of proportion of the reason causing anger.
·  Your teen lies about his/her whereabouts.
·  Your teen has unexpectedly changed his or her peer group and hasn’t made an attempt to make you meet their new friends. This new group has lead to a dissimilar transformation in appearances and drastic change in attitude.
·  Your adolescent has stolen money from your purse regularly.
·  Your adolescence has tremendous mood swings, from depression to elation, and seems to sleep lot more than usual times.
·  Your child’s grades have suddenly dropped and the child has lost all interest in the usual routine and hobbies.