Teenagers' Relationship With Their Parents (Problems & Solutions)

 

Introduction

Every teenager has a problem. There is no doubt about it. As any parent of a teenager knows that discipline can be a difficult and confusing issue, of course a teenager also knows what good behavior is and which is the right way to comfort and make their parents happy. Discipline isn’t about punishment; it’s about helping people in developing responsibility. This may be one of the common problems of a teenager, in which the teenager thinks that the punishment is for something else. Here they start disobeying their parents, which creates problems.



 Problems

There are a lot of reasons for the problems that happen between teenagers and parents. But the biggest ones are media and technology, where child and teenager can make their secret life; also, with technology, the internet becomes their new father and guide so that many teenagers are not close to their family and remember them only at the time of needing money.




Besides media and technology, there are other problems too. Another great problem is the non-presence of a goal in their life.


Another major problem is alcoholism and drugs. Many teenagers experiment with alcohol and other drugs. Adolescent problems with alcohol and other drugs are occurring at an earlier age than ever before. Children today commonly have their first alcohol-drinking experience at 12 years of age, in contrast to 13 to 14 years of age in previous generations. Each year, an estimated 4.6 million adolescents of 14 to 17 years of age have alcohol-related problems such as poor school performance, trouble with their parents, or criminal behavior and arrests. Recent research has shown that beer is now the drink of choice for many teenagers. Alcohol damages the health of teenagers as well as disturbing their behavior. Drinking and the after-effects of drinking impair concentration, learning and performance at skilled tasks, and induce irritability, hostility and aggression. A person who begins to use alcohol or other drugs at an early age is very likely to become seriously dependent on them. Alcohol abuse is a major problem for teenagers as a group, including the added possibility of moving on to other drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Alcohol and other drugs are also involved in a large portion of teenage crimes nowadays.


Also there is a health problem that teenagers face which some doctors have discovered. It's insomnia in teenagers, which is being reported with increasing frequency. Doctors acknowledge that it's a real problem for some teenagers these days, just being unable to sleep at night. What causes insomnia in teenagers? There's certainly the lifestyle that teenagers adopt, which is probably the same as it always used to be. They stay up late at night, especially on the weekend, and then are unable to get up early during the week. It's not uncommon for them to sleep at lunchtime or immediately after school, which makes the problem of not being able to sleep at night worse. They also end up sleeping most of the weekend to try and make up for all the sleep they lost during the week. It's a bit of a vicious circle. The danger is that this can become a pattern, almost like jet lag, where your cycle of sleep adjusts itself completely out of the normal context and your body tries to tell you it's time to go to sleep, when in fact it's not at all. It can take weeks for a teenager to get back into the right sleep habits and recover from insomnia. The problem is that there is never enough time in between weekends for a proper sleep pattern to be formed. Other common causes of insomnia in teenagers are anxiety and depression. It's a fact that many teenagers are having to struggle with just about everything! It can be one of most difficult times of our lives, our adolescent years. Whether it's to do with friends, family, or school, there are almost an unlimited number of reasons why a teenager could be anxious or depressed. Unavoidably, this anxiety and depression is going to lead to sleep problems.


There are other problems too, like shoplifting, abuse, peer pressure, and smoking, which should also be considered.


    
Possible  sollutions  and  suggetions
1. Teenagers should try to do what their parents tell them and not do what their parents dislike.


2. On the other hand, parents should also know how to react with their children in the best way.


3. Teenagers like to be free and independent in theior life, so it is good for parents to understand this situation and try to make a good relationship between them and their teen-agers.


4. Teenagers face many problems, but they are reluctant to discuss their problems with their parents; they have to learn that they can’t find anyone better than their parents to discuss their problems with.


5. In case of insomnia in teenagers, it is important for them to get into a regular routine with their sleep, in the same way that anyone else does. If they can establish a habit, most of the sleep problems will disappear.


6. When teenagers need something like money, they should not steal from parents. This will make their parents act with them in an uncomfortable way. It's better to ask from them. If they refuse, the teenager has to accept that refusal, which will make the parents feel more proud of their child.




7. Parents should not forget that their children still need them and, underneath it all, care about their opinions. If parents understand and accept that some conflict is inevitable, the child would be better prepared for it.


8. Parents should not ignore experimentation with alcohol and drugs in the hope that their teenage son or daughter will somehow learn about the risks involved or outgrow his or her drug-related behavior. Parents should talk to their children about the risks of alcohol and other drug abuse, emphasizing the very serious dangers of drinking and driving and the health hazards involved.


9. Both have to try to reduce the animosity between them and start a relationship of love and respect, which I hope every teenager and parent can find.

                  Conclusion

We have seen that it's not easy for a teenager to solve his problems and that, for every problem, the same solution is not possible. The four major problems of teenagers that I have discussed here are media & technology, non-presence of a life goal, alcohol and drug abuse, and insomnia in teenagers. Moreover, I have also discussed the incorrect way in which some parents treat their teenagers when teenagers want to discuss their problems with them. So it's very important for parents to know the right way in which their teenaged children should be treated. Whatever the teenagers do, the parents should not consider them a curse to their life. Being a teenager is not something bad because it is, in my opinion, the best period of one’s life and all our good times are spent in this period.