The Teenage Brain by Frances Jensen

The Teenage Brain by Frances Jensen

Author:Frances Jensen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joosr Ltd


Learning how to communicate with your teenager will help support them

Teenagers may look like adults, they may even speak and behave in certain adult-like ways, and their propensity to master a new skill or take up a new language is incredible. So why does your intelligent son repeatedly make the same foolish mistake? And why is your daughter suddenly crying, when two minutes ago she was smiling?

Understanding the limitations of the teenage brain is critical if we are to guide our teens safely through these tumultuous waters, whilst surviving intact ourselves. Most important is learning to count to ten before reacting. Tolerate your teen’s mistakes and take the opportunity to talk calmly about the reasons for the mistake. Teens like and respect facts and information, and will probably be interested in the fact their pre-frontal lobes have not yet fully integrated with the rest of their brain, so share this knowledge.

As a counterpoint, make sure to talk about positive things about them personally, and about their achievements. You don’t want to be seen as one who only criticizes, judges, or ridicules. And don’t be scared to repeat things. You need to get certain information—about risk-taking and potential for addiction, for example—hammered home.

By understanding what is happening in your teen’s brain, you’ll have a much better chance of understanding what makes them tick, and thus how you can best support them. Strange teenage behavior is not simply attributable to raging hormones (although these don’t help); it is attributable to the different phases of brain development. Give advice and explanations, and be a good role model. You should also try using your teen’s preferred communication medium. Even texting helps to keep communication channels open, and you can at least be sure your teen will see those messages, while they may not open their private email so regularly.

With our own fully developed brain dominating our perception, we don’t necessarily understand our teens’ behavior very well. But we can be ready to communicate at all times, and work on perfecting that communication to better connect with our teens and to ensure that we have a good relationship with them.



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