Counselor's Corner -
Parents, Grow with Your Teens By: Bill Wattenbarger, PhD Parenting adolescents can be an especially hard thing. But truly, it has never been harder to be an adolescent than now.
Small children are taught to obey their parents. Parents must take authority because life is dangerous, and a child cannot know enough to escape dreadful harm. Now, fast forward to age 12, more or less. Things start to change. Children cannot remain children forever. The very word adolescence means "becoming adult."
Adolescence is a kind of uniquely human metamorphosis which takes 12-15 years to complete. The changing is almost imperceptible day to day and sometimes not to the parents' liking. This transformation extends from being a member of the family to being an extension of the family to autonomy. These changes cover physicality, sexuality, language, reason, sociality, independence, identity, meaning, purpose, morality, spirituality and for the faithful, identity in Christ. These changes occur simultaneously and add up to how we shall live (as adults), and why. | 