Encouraging adolescents to be the best they can be - more thoughts

I have been preparing material for a seminar I am running in New Zealand at the end of March, which will focus on Mentors making a difference. Linking brain research to the material I want to use has proved to be a fascinating journey and, yet again, convinces me how important it is for young people to have at least three significant people in their lives (as well as their parents) as they journey through these confused adolescent times. Some thoughts extracted from materials I have been consulting ...

No matter what teenagers may tell us, they still need guidance and limits. Since an adolescent’s rational prefrontal cortex (PFC) is still developing, we parents, teachers, coaches and other adults need to serve as surrogate PFCs.

Today’s adolescents do live in a different, faster world of constant change. But their brains face the same developmental challenges that all adolescents have always had. And the adolescent brain explains much of the adolescent experience.

As teenagers attempt to form their adult personalities they need to try new thoughts and feelings out loud. Listening to them with an open mind is a sign of profound respect … in the midst of taking the whole world extremely seriously, adolescents sometimes need the release of a good laugh, so it’s important for parents, teachers, coaches and other adults to maintain a great sense of humour.

Discussions that help students identify their personal values and encourage knowledge, involvement and contributions to the community build character.

The interactions between a caring adult and a growing adolescent are much like the connections forming in an adolescent brain. The more an adolescent has a diversity of positive experiences, the more strong connections form in the neural pathways of the brain … the more connections the brain has, the more it will be able to do, withstand and create. The connections between adolescents and adults who love them work the same way. The more we make, reinforce and recreate connections between our adolescents and the parents, teachers and other caring adults in their lives, the greater chance our children will have to sprout their wings and fly.