Matters concerning troubled teens are growing by the day, and thankfully, so are their solutions. Trouble teen news should keep you updated with the facts about troubled teenagers, the warning signs and how to get past them. You can also use these resources to understand the factors that can make your healthy teen troubled and how to prevent them to the best of your abilities.

Before we proceed, who or what is a troubled teen and what does it involve? A troubled teen is a young person who is exhibiting different, mostly negative behaviors which are unlike their usual selves. A common example is when a teen who was previously outgoing becomes withdrawn, and this may be as a result of a change in environment, bullying at school, keeping the wrong friends or inabilities in studying and socializing such as ADHD or dyslexia. Parents should know how to go about such situations with their teens should they arise.

About.com:Teens section has all a parent should know about how to raise their troubled teen to full recovery and health. Some of the issues covered include bringing up teens after divorce, sexual abuse and self injury, teens running away from home or school, depression, suicidal tendencies and several other issues of concern. Parents also get to take quizzes on About.com that are to do with their troubled teens as a way of exposing the truth and providing solutions to these problems.

For more information on trouble teen news, HelpYourTeens.com is another very valuable online resource for parents. Information on the site comes from Parents Universal Resource Experts, or P.U.R.E that gives solutions for parents with troubled teens. You will find details about how to select the right option for your teen’s improvement mentally and academically, be it through military school or residential treatment centers.

On the same note, the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov has crucial information for parents about choosing a private residential treatment program for their troubled teens. There are specific guidelines that do help parents select the right institutions for their teens’ benefits, some of which include checking for the license information for the program from the Health and Human Services Department in your state or the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The organization P.U.R.E mentioned above is recognized by both and also provides more guidelines for treatment programs in the country.

So before you select any course of action for your troubled teen, do look at all these resources and make the best decision for the sake of your teen’s welfare and health.

Teenage is one of the most exciting phases in your life. The passage between childhood and adulthood is a tumultuous one. It is one that should be taken with a mixture of care and caution freedom and experimentation. Most teenagers find it difficult to balance the two. It is not easy without guidance, counseling prayer and the occasional hard lesson from Mother Nature itself.

Teenage is a totally new experience in today’s information age. Most adults still reminisce on the past when things were much simpler. The modern teenager faces the joys and challenges that come with information technology.

Almost everything is available virtually in today’s world. Teenagers can access whatever they please at the touch of a button.  The good, bad and the ugly are all available online which makes parents a worried lot.

Positive parenting and guidance is essential to guide teenagers through the murky elements of the information age. In this regard, both the parent and the teen should learn to filter the negative aspects of today’s realities and embrace the positive ones.

Teenagers can access positive websites from helpfortroubledteens.net. The site has links giving valuable information to teenagers on many issues of concern.

For the health conscious teenager, teengrowth.com is the website of choice. This is a unique and interactive site tailored towards the health interests and general well being of teenagers. There is information on alcohol, emotions, drugs, family, friends, School life, sex and drug abuse.

Access to the trendiest positive information can be obtained from teenadvice.about.com

The website has a wide range of information from dating sex kissing and flirting to shopping and money tips. You can learn how to score a summer job and how to spend the wages you earn simultaneously.

Teenagers can access the inter-net to get tips on gift ideas, summer and winter vacation activities, hobbies and interests, love and relationships e.t.c.

Teenagers can also post their own blog sites on the inter-net. This is one way to keep them busy. Social networking is also encouraged. Parents should limit the time their teenagers spend on such sites as face book and twitter.

teenhealthfx.com is a website by teens and for teens. This interactive and fun website is managed by teenage advisory committees. They offer answers to fellow teens on questions posted on the site.

Parents should set limits on the time teenagers spend online. Unlimited access to the inter-net may interfere with more vital issues and lead to addiction.

Links

www.teenhealthfx.com

www.teenadvice.about.com

“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.

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.
For more information about the author, please click here.

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.

Teens tend to get bored easily. If they are mixed with a bad crowd, drugs may be their only solution to boredom. However, there are lots of activities that a teen can engage to so that they can avoid drugs.

Sports activities are good solutions to avoid drugs. Engaging in sports sharpens their physical and intellectual wits. They would think that drugs will just slow them down and distract their winning ways. With this thought at the back of their heads, prohibited drugs will never be a problem.

Having a fruitful activity that requires attention and time will definitely keep the teens away from drugs. Being dedicated in something worthwhile brings out the willingness to repel vices and other bad habits.

If in case the teen is already hooked on drugs, there are numerous rehabilitation centers and boot camps situated in different parts of the country. Just make sure that the appropriate center is chosen.

Sex and violence is abundant in television shows and movies that most teens watch. As we all know, teens are very curious about a lot of things. They want to try out different things and be in different situations most of the time. There is a huge possibility that they will imitate what they are seeing.

Gaining control doesn’t necessarily mean that a parent will just turn off the TV every time violence is present. This will only instigate curiosity. The best thing to do is to explain what is being displayed in the show. Parents must make sure that their children understand the message conveyed in the TV shows and teach them about the consequences of what might happen if in case they imitate what they are seeing. Talking to them while watching TV is a good way to educate them and at the same time make a stable contact with them.

Most of troubled teens are victims of their own environment. Environment plays a major role in a child’s personality. Growing up in an environment filled with violence will automatically trigger a child’s instinct for cruelty. The kid will most likely imitate what the environment is displaying.

Being abused is the general problem of these teens. As a victim of violence, they tend to detach themselves from society and live a life that they will soon regret. If this happens, it may result to bigger problems such as suicide.

Keeping them away from this kind of environment is essential in their growth as a person. If it is not possible to move them out to a different place then at least they should be trained in avoiding circumstances that would lead them into trouble. One way to do this is to have an adult set a good example to a child so that even if they are staying in a hostile environment, the child knows how to shun circumstances that may harm them in the end.