What goes on inside the mind of a teen? Read this to find out…

mind of a teen
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The teen years – it is, without doubt, the years that parents fear the most. We all know that teenagers rebel, stay up late, have huge mood swings and sleep a tonne. To many parents, this switch into newfound teen territory can be utterly perplexing. But what if we could understand our teens better? Today, we have a Q&A with Rachel Dinah, author of The Mind of a Teen: Your Story Your Success to help us understand what goes on inside the mind of a teen

Why is the teenage mind so hard to understand?

The teen is a young adult and able to carry out most tasks except knowing the consequences of some actions. This can be very confusing for parents. For a teen, they want to know the world from their perspective and anything outside this is a total blur.

For example, teens want boyfriends/girlfriends but they do not understand that love is an emotional feeling that can affect them when a break up happens.

Teens do not see the negative of a situation so they wonder why everyone else is negative and why this is happening to them. They simply don’t understand the phrase ‘that’s life ‘.

What is it about the mind of a teen that makes it prone to risk-taking and impulsive behaviour?

Teenagers are influenced by their peers , social media , music and fashion. So quite simply whatever is trending, young people want to be included in that trend .

Like a child’s brain, they don’t see danger only if and when they have been hurt previously by that very thing. A teenager wants to explore and that is why they take risks impulsively.

Why do you think 70% of mental illness appear in the teens years and what can we do about this?

The home life of a teen plays a massive part in their mental health. Their upbringing, family and cultural references programmes them in a particular way.

Then they go to school and meet other peers who don’t have the same values. This now creates a complex situation for a teen, which I describe in my book. Where Rai’s cultural references were not acceptable to her school friends around her, she had to change her thinking. It is this that causes teens to become confused about what is right and what is wrong. And unfortunately, usually, it is the parent that becomes wrong.

Taking into consideration all of the above, what we do you think parents should do to help set our teens up for success?

• Parents need to know their teens interests and them to pursue that very thing whether it be sports, music, drama, dance, creative writing, hair and beauty etc. They are already bombarded with subjects in school that they don’t like and that don’t benefit who they are as a unique individual so allow them to follow their spark.

• Listen to your teen carefully and what are they always complaining about. Allow them to remove that very thing from their life. Instead, encourage them to open the doors that lead to their emotional fulfillment.


Can you share your top 5 life saving tips for managing teens?


•  Listen to them

• Act quick

• Give them the information they need

• Love them like a human being who has feelings

• Give them enough of an allowance so they can buy the things they desire

And 5 things parents absolutely should not do?

• Do not let them hang out with unstable friends

• Do not let them watch films or play games that include sex and violence

• Do not make them feel you are their enermy and that they can’t confide in you

• Do not take away their phones and allow them to walk on the street by themselves  

If you had to give a pep talk to our readers about managing teens it would be….
 

Understand your teens needs and allow them to showcase their talents. Be an advocate, a mentor and an inspiration to them.


The Mind of a Teen: Your Story Your Success by Rachel Dinah is available at Amazon

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