Teenage Stress Is No Surprise.
We Only Need To Channel Their Energy.

If you try to slow it down, you will fare a little better, but only a little. Our only real hope in dealing with the energy and and agitation is to try to direct it in positive ways.

And don't bother waiting until the magic number 13 comes along. As parents, if we haven't laid a good set of tracks for our kids to follow by age 9 or 10, then it is likely the teen years will see us in for a very rough ride. I recommend you start laying those tracks no later than age five. After all, there are many forces that a teen will encounter along the way that will attempt to derail that train.

Teenage stress is understandable and manageable. Even if the track is not as smooth as it could be, there are switching stations all along the way. We don't need to be afraid of teens, they are reasonable people. Even the trouble makers are nowhere near close to being lost causes.

It may take some serious outreach to change one teen's path, but it can be done and it is always worth it. Most teens are very smart, very passionate and very aware. If we could take a teen's energy for life and turn it into a bottle of vitamins, there would never be illness.

Teens need direction. They need to be challenged. We need to channel their energy. We need to raise our expectations of teenagers. In the old days, the average teen of 16 or 17 was already married and raising and supporting a family, but nowadays we treat teens like babies.

Put them to work. Give them something to do. Give them a cause. Make them feel useful. Letting them sit on their butts in front of a television or gaming console is a recipe for disaster. If we want to get teenage stress under control, we need to get serious about valuing teens.

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