Just think back to your own adolescent years. You probably remember some highs and some lows, with some bumps along the way? If we imagine adolescence as the road between childhood and adulthood, you might agree that the adolescent road is complex journey.
And it’s a long road. Adolescence these days is thought to span the ages of eight and twenty eight!
So why is the adolescent journey so complex?
Adolescence is a time of change and transition. Now, change can be exciting, but it can also be daunting. And to make it harder, many of those changes and transitions are happening at the same time…. puberty, school transitions, changes in friendships groups, new subjects to study, challenging experiences, different expectations…
And it to make it harder again, our children are travelling their adolescent journey on a road that is changing at a faster pace than ever before.
Our children have to navigate a faster, busier, wider adolescent road than we did. Just think of the changes that have occurred over this last generation. It’s a road which has given our children more freedoms, choices and opportunities than we had. But, it’s also a road which has fewer boundaries, established lanes and signposts. We might describe this road as high opportunity –high risk. It’s a road which adolescents are struggling to navigate, and you’ve only got to read the latest statistics to see that an increased numbers are ‘crashing’, and at an ever earlier age.