Teens become troublesome for various reasons – their environment, peer pressure, media and all other negative influences that surrounds them. Surprisingly though, one of the most unquestionable excuses on why teens misbehave and carry on their misbehavior even if they are with strangers is their family.

Whenever you talk to a problematic teen, he or she would often blame his family for it. My parents are too strict… my father doesn’t understand me… my mother expects too much from me… I am always compared to my brother… my sister treats me like crap… And the complains go on and on. The misbehavior suddenly seems excusable because the person who is supposed to be responsible for the teens’ proper upbringing is being blamed for his misbehaviors. Often, when the teen starts talking about his family problem, anyone who is listening can not really blame him anymore because parents are supposed to be the first one to understand. Unfortunately some teens take this excuse too far, blaming their parents for every inch of bad that they have become. This of course does not only sound incredulous to the hard-working parent, it may hurt more than they think. And this starts the gap of parent and child. The point where pride of both parties are damaged.

People who are into the education industry are bothered by this feud. How do you expect a troublesome child to transform his behavior if there is no trust between the parent and the child. A lot of educational programs and centers are built for the misbehaving teens but what awaits them once they get out of it? That is why, they formulated parent programs in residential/therapeutic schools. These programs aim to create s better relationship between parent and child. Parents are to undergo seminars and programs that will enlighten them about the condition of their child. They are being taught how to handle them, understand what their child is going through and communicate with their teens effectively. This way, there is a bigger guarantee that the teen won’t have to come back to any kind of reform school after spending time in a residential school.

Abortion is a morality issue that has been debated over and over in most schools, forums, shows and most any place that you can imagine. According to CDC in the year 2003, there is a total of: 848,163 legal induced abortions during 2003 as reported by 49 different areas; the abortion ratio (the number of abortions per 1,000 live births) was 241; the abortion rate was 16 per 1,000 women aged 15- 44 years. From all reported abortions, there were 15 women who died due to complications from known legal induced abortion while there was one death complications from known illegal abortion

Today there are In the U.S, the policy for teenagers who wants to have an abortion varies depending on the state. Here is the abstract of a paper written by Carol Sanger from Columbia Law school regarding the country’s policy in the topic abortion.

“Thirty-four US states currently require pregnant minors either to notify their parents or get their consent before having a legal abortion. The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of theses statutes provided that minors are also given an alternative mechanism for abortion approval that does not involve parents. The mechanism used is the ‘judicial bypass hearing’ at which minors persuade judges that they are mature and informed enough to make the abortion decision themselves. While most minors receive judicial approval, the hearings intrude into the most personal aspects of a young woman’s life. The hearings, while formally civil in nature, can be punitive in tone. Parental involvement statutes are often couched in the language of family communications and protecting minors. They are politically popular because they offer politicians the chance to be pro-life, pro-choice, and pro-family all at once. This paper argues that parental involvement statutes are less concerned with developing nuanced policies to improve the quality of teenage health or decision making than with securing a set of political goals aimed at making abortion harder to get, restoring parental authority, and punishing girls for having sex.

That kind of policy may be humane but still debatable especially for those the conservatives and religious. On the other hand, there are women especially those who were victims of physical violation may have a different view on this. But the real issue is whether teens will be given the chance to get away from the fruits of an irresponsible act. Views may differ but the fact won’t change with or without sex education in school. As parents, there are no sure ways to help avoid teen pregnancy especially with how volatile teens are becoming, but abortion may be prevented if parents make it known to their children that they are there to support them at all times.

As if we don’t already know how bad the situation of some teenagers are now. Some are experiencing being violated and equally bad, some are doing the violence against each other. But what gets them to this point of thinking? How can they go on doing things like this? How do parents prevent their child from coming to the point where he violates himself and other people as well?

The thing about parents is that sometimes they just don’t see that there is something wrong about their kid. It may be understandable for some parents because some teenager manage to hide things from them. This quality of teens may be normal but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is acceptable. So, once they see something, as early as possible parents must be vigilant about it.

Some parents doesn’t want to be confrontational to their child because they worry about their child’s feelings. They don’t want to be tagged by their child. They worry that their child might think that they are being underestimated and their parents are narrow-minded. The thing is, its not underestimation, its guidance.

Science believes that the brain of a teenager doesn’t fully develop at their age so, a certain point of their brain is not working as well as the adults’ brains do. Meaning, they may be capable of making decisions but there are things that they might not be able to decide on properly. You let them do things because you trust them and you know that they can decide for themselves but guidance is still of essence. You have to respect their decisions; but there are things that as an adult you understand more not just because you have more experiences but also because of your physiology itself. But that shouldn’t mean that you don’t listen to them. If there is one thing you have to avoid, never shut them up if they are trying to reason out. If you know they did something wrong, explain to them the consequences of their act and why you are punishing them for it. Its not just about punishment, it’s about making them understand the scenario. 

And when it comes to emotion, teenagers are more prone to loving you because of their attachment and their need, your love for them is something that you yourself can not explain but for sure its much deeper. Keep this in your mind, between the two of you selfishness should never come from your side of the relationship.

“Following a decline of more than 28 percent, the suicide rate for 10- to-24-year-olds increased by 8 percent, the largest single-year rise in 15 years, according to a report just released in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).”

– ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2007)

The reported increase began in the middle of 2003 and 2004. Specialists are not sure if this is a short-term occurrence or the beginning of the age where teens can no longer succumb to the distress caused by their own personal issues or their own environment.

According to CDC, particular age ranges and gender had a dramatic annual increase. These are the age group and gender of the highest teen suicide rate:

– For 10- to-14-year-old females, the rate increased from 0.54 per 100,000 in 2003 to 0.95 per 100,000 in 2004

– For 15-to-19 year-old females the rate increased from 2.66 to 3.52 per 100,000

– For 15-to-19 year-old males, the rate increased from 11.61 to 12.65 per 100,000

CDC can not really determine the reason for this sudden increase they were able to acquire a record of the method they used though:

1990- boys and girls commonly used firearms

2004- 71.4% of 10-14 year-old girls who committed suicide used hanging or suffocation. During the period of 2003-2004, there was 119% increase in 10-14 year old girls who hang/suffocated themselves. Boys’ most common method is still firearms.

CDC now aims to gather more information on suicide occurrences (failed/successful) and place them in a centralized system to be able to determine the underlying cause of these attempts. Through this system they wish to be able to succeed in finding ways in helping to prevent teens in committing suicide.

To be labeled as a geek in this day and age can be a difficult thing. Geeks choose to isolate themselves from the world. They choose to hide from the public eye where they won’t be judged. Where they can be themselves. This often leads to depression and loss of confidence.

Today’s society may have forgotten the significance of having people around you. People who could be there when you’re down. People who could pick you off the ground and get you back on the right track. Bullied geeks don’t have that.

Everyone should think about what struggling geeks have to go through in today’s society. Teens suffer ridicule, peer pressure and the like. It’s important to have someone guide you through this rough phase. If not, a person is susceptible to make wrong decisions which in turn could prove fatal.

Take the school shootings for example. The suspects turned out to be students who had been pushed around one time too many. That horrific incident should never had happened should these kids had proper guidance and counseling – not by school personnel but by friends. Friends who could understand what these kids are going through.

It doesn’t matter if you’re popular or not – every one of us needs someone to confide in. And I think it’s about time that we stopped pushing the geeks away.

In the monolithic division in your high school that separates the populars from the losers, where do you stand? Some who belongs in the latter category may not admit that they are part of that crowd, some would probably be glad that they fall in that category while the others are simply “dying” to get out of it. No matter how you look at your spot in the scholastic social system a couple of things are sure: People from the other group are not necessarily better than you are. That you may be so much more than they are in many other things; that they are not necessarily happier than you are; that being lucky does not make you a better person and; that you are the own master of your destiny.

Sadly, not a lot of teens look at their situation this way. The monolithic division that I was talking about earlier becomes a big deal for a lot of them. This division is suddenly dictating to them what they are and what they are bound to be. It’s fortunate that there are many instances that it reaches a certain boundary where the teen can no longer manage it. Their self-esteem together with their pride is crashed to pieces thus, affecting their psychiatric state. This is when things become sensitive. Theres no saying as to how far a person’s imagination can go and, theres no saying as to how far they can believe that it is just imagination. Drugs, alcohol, school shootings, you name it they all happened and much that I don’t want to admit… they will continue happening if the general perception of diversity will not change.

A week ago I was able to grab a copy of Jody Picoult’s latest book “Nineteen Minutes.” Being a person who believes in the simple rule of “an eye for an eye,” I was quite astound to discover myself sympathizing with a teenager who killed 9 of his schoolmates and his Math teacher in his school in a small town in New Hampshire.

If you watch the video, you would know the entire plot and the conflict of the story. But what bothered me most is the lengths that a person can go through once he has had “enough.”

The most disturbing thing about it is that school shootings do happen in real life –several times for the past years and blood-curdling as it may seem, I won’t be surprised if another incident of shooting gets reported soon. Just like Peter from the story, most of these real life incidents were triggered by a constant bullying and discrimination coming from other students– something that most school administrations and parents never really take too seriously. People are very busy dissing and hating the shooter, they never realize that this kind of tragedy will never stop unless people will start paying attention and start becoming more humane to every person around them. So before picking on someone, be sure that that person doesn’t know anything about explosives or guns, you wouldn’t know what he can do if things get really really bad for him.

School shootings are starting to seem like a bi-annual festival celebrated in different parts of the US. In the past 10 years more than 40 school shootings have already occurred all over the US probably around 90% involves a minor killing/wounding his fellow student or teacher. A lot of people have been wondering how a child or anyone for that matter could have the guts to do such a despicable act. Psychologists have their own theories, one of them involving a capsule not any bigger than a bullet.

Lizard
by Dennis Covington

Have you ever felt like a freak?

Well, then you’ll relate to Lucius Sims. Because he resembles a reptile, people call him Lizard, and they treat him like an alien because he’s different. He’s even put into a school for retarded boys even though there is no proof that he has a learning problem.

Hang on tight, though, because Lizard is about to embark on a madcap adventure. On the road to freedom he might even find a way to accept himself! Covington won the Delacorte Prize for this sensitive novel about the oddball inside of us all.

To read more on what readers say about the novel, please click here.
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Geeks
How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho
by Jon Katz

Geeks is the story of how Jesse and Eric — and others like them — used technology to try and change their lives and alter their destiny. They rode the Internet out of Idaho to Chicago, a city they had never set foot in, seeking the American Dream, a better life.

Geeks describes this brave and difficult journey, as two self-described social misfits use the resources of the Internet to try to construct a new future for themselves, escape the boundaries of their dead-end lives, and find a community they could belong to.

Geeks explores a growing subculture about which many of us know little, a world with its own language, traditions, and taboos. In telling the stories of Jesse, Eric, and others like them, Geeks is a story about the very human face of technology.

To read the full book review, please visit this link.
For more information about the author, please click here.