The Challenges of Teenagers.
The teen's year ranges
between the age of thirteen and seventeen and it is the year between Childhood
and adulthood. Though the teen's years are most enjoyable, it is also a period
when many teenagers go through a lot of
challenges. Some of these challenges which are
Lust, Environmental Influences, Peer Pressure, Gangsterism and Cultism,
Insufficient Parental Care, and Educational challenges.
Lust
Teen's years are characterized by the onset of
puberty and many accompanying struggles, including understanding and coping
with an awakening sexuality. Adolescent girls and boys encounter many thoughts
and feelings that are both new and disturbing. They begin to notice physical
development and attractiveness of the opposite sex, and also develop an intense
fascination with romantic and sexual matters.
Teens do not only experience various hormonal changes, in their bodies,
they are also largely unprepared for the hormonal surge and surprises that
occur as a natural physiological part of the adolescence. Usually, they are yet
to learn how to control and channel their sexual urges, and sensations that leave them often bewildered and frightened.
They gets involved in
sensual desire and believe that nothing is wrong with dating the opposite sex
as long as they do not get into the 'real acts'. Lust sometimes begins with
seemingly harmless actions such as holding of hands, embrace or hug and
constant chats with the opposite sex.
This frequent, private communication leads to emotional attachment and
entanglements and oftentimes, Lust is induced by the things the teens see or
hear. The kinds of programmes they watched on television, Internet, radio and
the kinds of company they keep. Lust is
a critical problem for today's teens than for teens of previous
generation.
Environmental
Influences
Today's teens face a culture that is obsessed with
sex, sexual attractiveness, and sexual gratification. Television programs ,
movies, previews, magazine adverts, billboards and commercials as well as
styles of clothing are often blatant in their attempt to arouse the viewer
sexuality. The teen's years are typically characterized by a search for self
identity, an effort to discover "Who am I and where do I fit in", and
the teens sexuality is a part of that mix, and for some teenagers, lustful
fantasies become a slave to their fears and insecurities.
Peer Pressure.
Another challenge most teenagers go through today is
peer pressure. Teens face severe pressure to act, dress, talk in certain ways
and join certain groups and to try certain things, and any deviation from what
is considered the "normal" or "popular thing to do " can
result in ridicule and rejection. Though peer pressure can be positive, it can
also be negative. Bad company influence teenagers negatively and lead them
astray. Peer influence or pressure have
been associated with episodes of teens risk taking, such as the use of alcohol,
tobacco, marijuana, drugs.
Many teenagers
listen to wrong and evil counsels of peers who tell them to go into immorality
because it is what is in vogue. They suggest and scheme to lure them into
having premarital sex. Even when a teenager decides not to join
in the act, they are been deride for being naive or being a virgin and being
the odd person among the company.
Insufficient Parental
Care.
Lack of Interest and
involvement on the part of the parent for teenagers is another major
problem that has reached a crises stage
in the world today. Many parent finds
giving appropriate attention and care to one or more children together with
already considerable responsibilities of
marriage and carrier, a nearly impossible job.
These days, a lot of
parents are too busy and do not have time for their teens. They tend to neglect them if they are
preoccupied with anything, especially social advancement. Today's society urges
men and women to "have it all"
and to "have it your way": Earn a six figure
income, send your teens to private school, and work out every day, vacation in
the Bahamas etc. Parent who buy into this "have it all" mentality typically neglect their teens
emotional needs, choosing (consciously or unconsciously) to place their
"needs" ahead of their teens needs. Aside availability to the
teenagers, many parents lacks parenting skill to take care of the teens physically
and emotional need.
Gangsterism and
Cultism.
Cowardice, greed, lust
for power and gullibility have led many teenagers into gangsterism and cultism.
Some teenagers were persuaded into it, while some were threatened and
physically harassed into it, others just wanted to have power they could
demonstrate at anytime and anywhere they found themselves. Many teenagers have
been expelled from school and some have died prematurely because of cultism and
gangsterism.
Educational Challenges
Another challenge teenagers
experience is the problem of underachievement. While some teenagers seem to
mature with little difficulties and gain clear understanding of their
potentials and limitations, other teens resist the challenge to develop their
potential. Many teenagers fail at school
and experience other problem academically that may last a life time. Often
times they go through the fear of failure, anxiety that drive them to a point
of exhaustion and eventually inefficiency.
Academic problems are
frequently indicators of larger problems that a teenager is going through.
These problems range among personality and lifestyle, societal and economic
factor, and the family. Oftentimes, some teens fail to achieve good grade in
school because their basic need are not met.
They lack the ability to
concentrate, poor self motivation, and
are unwillingness to stay on learning task. This may later result in the teenager drooping out of
school.
.....to be continued.
ZOA Oladejo.
