I have observed that many of you are still joining “causes” rather than looking for the cause.
The above statistics are a perfect example.
While the exact statistics are somewhat higher; for our purposes, the approximation will do.
There are many reasons, or at least excuses, used to condone this irresponsibility. Many parents claim they: “are too busy to always be around but that they are doing their best to protect their children”, “have a life to live as well”, “are trying to do what is best for their children”, “are doing what is necessary in today’s society to enable their children to FIT IN”, “are providing for their child all the things they never had as a child”, etc. Etc.
In many cases, it is a case of the CHILD parenting the ADULT, and telling the adult what to do and how to live.
These same parents tend to treat the adolescent/teenage child as an adult; who they are not and there are very strict laws confirming that they are not. These same parents tend to forget, or fail to care; that it is illegal for anyone under the age of eighteen: to attend a restricted/adult movie, buy or drink alcohol, enter a bar or cocktail lounge, enter into any legally binding contract (this includes renting an apartment or other place of abode), or remain for any length of time in an unsupervised—without parental guidance-- condition.
Adult supervisors need to understand that teenagers (most beyond the age of 18) have not fully developed the ability to evaluate situations and to make accurate judgments about risks. All teens tend to underestimate risks and overestimate their own abilities. As a result, they are often apt to accept a dare from a friend that can lead to dangerous risk-taking and illegal or self-destructive behaviour. Some may try feats beyond their physical abilities without full appreciation of the danger.
Everybody, especially adolescents, learns and develops at a different rate. Adolescents and many adults can be emotionally unstable. They can act impulsively. They differ from one another and even from themselves from moment to moment. In short, these young people often seem maddeningly unpredictable. The changes, shifts, and unpredictability of adolescence confound parents.
Research now supports that the teenager’s brain is different than the adult brain. The teen brain is not a finished product, but is a “work in progress.” Until recently, parents and most scientists, believed that the major “wiring” of the brain was completed by as early as three years of age, and that the brain was fully mature—and the personality fully developed-- by age10 or 12. New findings show that the GREATEST changes to the parts of the brain that are responsible for functions such as: self-control, judgment, emotions, and organisation occur BETWEEN puberty and adulthood. This explains certain teen-age behaviour such as poor decision making, recklessness, and emotional outbursts.
This research has also confirmed an old belief (an adult was 21 or over) THE BRAIN IS STILL DEVELOPING, DURING TEEN YEARS and teens are not responsible adults—because, they are not adults. Brain, “maturation “does not stop at age 10, but continues through the teen years and into the 20’s. What is most surprising is that you get a second wave of overproduction of gray matter, something that was thought to happen only in the first 18 months of life. Following the overproduction of gray matter, the brain undergoes a process called “pruning” where connections among neurons in the brain that are not used wither away, while those that are used stay—the “use it or lose it” principle. It is thought that this pruning process makes the brain more efficient by strengthening the connections that are used most often, and eliminating the clutter of those that are not used at all. While in most respects, this process is undoubtedly beneficial, on the negative side: an adolescent/teen, that is removed from the biological family home, will often forget all previous teachings, family values, and traditions—they will often forget, or reject who their parents are and adopt a completely foreign value system, peer group, and standard of life.
Teens also differ from adults in their ability to read and understand emotions in the faces of others. Teens and adults actually use different regions of the brain in responding to certain tasks. In teens the frontal lobes (the seat of goal-oriented rational thinking) are less active and their amygdala (a structure in the temporal lobe that is involved in discriminating fear and other emotions) is more active. Teens often misread facial expressions, with those under the age of 14 more often seeing sadness, or anger, or confusion, instead of fear. “In teens, the judgment, insight and reasoning power of the frontal cortex is not being brought to bear on the task as it is in adults and teens process information differently than adults.
If the choices adolescents make about using drugs, alcohol, engaging in body modification, engaging in or avoiding challenging learning tasks have long-term and irreversible consequences for development of their brains, then discouraging harmful choices and encouraging healthy ones is all the more urgent. And any parent, or legal guardian not doing so is guilty of the CRIMINAL offenses of child abandonment, abuse and neglect.
If, there has been a "normal" dispute between a parent and an adolescent child and you step in to" side"
with the child, offer to take him/her away from the parent, harbour a runaway, or in any way interfere with the rights and responsibilities of the parent, when you are not a legal guardian--you are guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a child.
LINK--
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