This document discusses adolescent education and psychology. It covers several key topics: 1. Adolescence is a crucial stage of development between ages 12-18 where teens struggle with identity and influences from home vs. environment. Tight parental guidance is important to prevent losing teens to negative influences. 2. Adolescents can experience rebelliousness, depression, and tendency to join peer groups. Parents must provide support and guidance to help teens through this stage in a healthy way. 3. Adolescent psychology deals with common issues teens face like pregnancy, drugs, eating disorders, and depression. Peer influences can also affect behaviors and identity development. 4. Open communication between parents and teens is important

1. Adolescence Education
Session
By
Dr. Nicholas Correa
Director, New Horizon Scholars School

2. Family Ties
Educate your child that when everything fails, his family
won't. This aspect needs more of an involvement from
your end. Let your child communicate with you. If he is
open and is able to tell you what bothers him, you will
have no problems with that.
You have to let your child know that whatever may
happen, his family is always there to love and care for
him. He may be the worst prodigal child in the world, but,
if he knows where to go to when the sun is not at its
brightest anymore, you will be able to save him from being
lost in total darkness.

3. Adolescents are classified as those individuals in age
bracket of 12 to 18 years old. They are called
teenagers and this is the stage that is very crucial.
It is during this time that your kids are trying to find
their identity and struggling between listening to home
or environment.
Most likely to happen is that when the home's rein is
not tightened, you may end up losing your teenager to
the environment and you will have a hard time getting
him back.

4. If you must notice, at this stage, adolescents have
the tendency to be rebellious. They are very
outspoken especially if the child's environment is
more of an extrovert type, wherein the child is
able to express his feelings freely.
This is healthy and needs only a little bit of
guidance. However, if the child's upbringing may
lead him to be aloof, timid or shy he may just hide
his feelings and may end up with adolescent
depression.

5. If you, as a parent, are able to manage your adolescent at
this point of time, your child can grow to become a
responsible individual with a good disposition in life.
On the contrary, if you are not able to give him proper
guidance and the support that he needs during this stage,
he may end up getting involved in gangs, drugs and a
ruined-future.
It is then imperative to give proper adolescent education
for him to be aware if he still needs to continue hanging
out with his friends or stop seeing them.

6. Adolescents and Adolescent Psychology
Adolescence is the time where a child begins to
become an adult. This may also be called the
teenage time. The teenage time is where a person
will change the most. This is due to the fact that they
will be making new friends and beginning to
experience peer pressure along with their physical
and mental changes. They will not be that little girl
who played with dolls or that boy who played with
toy trucks anymore.

7. Adolescent psychology deals with all of the problems that could arise
during the adolescent period of time. This field has been studied and
talked about so much that there are a separate class of psychologists
that specialize in adolescent studies.
There are many adolescents that will become pregnant during the
timeframe of 12-19. This is because their bodies are changing and
they begin to think about engaging in sexual activity. Unfortunately,
many of these teens will not think to use the necessary precautions
before they act on their impulses and thus end up having a baby nine
months later.
If the adolescent is not getting pregnant or engaging in sexual
activities, then they may have decided to experiment with drugs or
alcohol instead.

8. Problems such as eating disorders and depression may
also arise during the adolescent timeframe.
Adolescents tend to feel insecure and look for
guidance to help them learn.
They may be reaching out to the wrong group of
people though. These people could be involved in
gangs, or could feel the need to steal or damage other
peoples' property.
Adolescents do not know how to figure out what their
own identities should be, so during middle school and
high school they join groups full of people they think
they would like to hang out with.

9. The people who a teen makes friends with may decide how
the teen acts or what the look like. If a friend does not like
what one adolescent wears, they will try to change it if that
adolescent is in the group.
If this same group leaves one of the teens behind, that
teen that is left behind may become depressed and while
someone is depressed, they do not want to make new
friends. A way someone behaves is always linked to who
they spend the most time with.
The depression and anxiety that an adolescent can face
makes adolescent psychology an important part in many
teens' lives.

10. A parent needs to learn how to cope with the changes that are
happening in their adolescent's life. This is why many parents
have opted for adolescent counseling that will not only help the
troubled teen out, but will also explain what is going on to the
parent as well.
The parent will learn how to treat their growing child as an
individual young adult instead of as a baby who needs
complete protection. Most parents do not want to think of their
child growing up, because that means that one day that child
will be leaving them.
This thought will not only stress the parent out, but the teen as
well. The teen will not feel as if they can talk to their parent
about what is happening in their lives, because they do not
want their mother to cry or their father to scold them.

11. Adolescent psychology has been studied further and improved over
the years. These days, if a teen goes into a therapist office, the
therapist will be able to suggest what the teen should do in various
situations.
Sometimes an adolescent just needs to talk to someone who does
not know anything about them, so that they can feel more confident
about opening up to the therapist and not think that they are just
trying to make money from their visits. Therapists are trained to
listen and give good advice, so usually they will not think of the
money involved and will instead want to help each individual out.
Adolescent psychology can open up communication lines from a
parent to their teen and may also help the teen realize who they
really are and what they want to do with their lives. They do not need
medication to help them. Most of the time, they just need someone
to listen to them.

12. Do's and Don'ts in Parenting Adolescents
Parenting adolescents has never been a walk in the
park. It has even made harder these days because of
the influence of modern technology, media exposure
and the so-called give-your-child-freedom rules.
Yet, the basic rules still apply and both parent and
child should know this: trusting the child completely
without him being abusive of that freedom. Here are
some tips that may find helpful when dealing with an
adolescent at home.

13. DO's

14. •Do let your child know that their opinions, ideas and
feelings are things that most matter to you. Take for
example, deciding on the school he would go to in high
school or college perhaps, do make a suggestion but never
dictate him where to enroll him.
Weigh the options with him. Both of you can get a piece of
paper and write down some schools and the advantages and
disadvantages of each school. Let your child speak what's on
his mind. This can be very helpful to both of you so that
when he feels unhappy in the school, he cannot blame you
because he chooses it.

15. •Do appreciate him even for simple things. Appreciation is
very important since this will help boost your child's self-
confidence. When your child knows that you are there to
support him, your child will have that trust on you not that what
he does matters and that he is important.
If your child is able to clean the house, cook you some food or
fix your room, appreciate and thank him for doing that even if it
not properly done.

16. •Do have quality time with your child. This can be a stroll
in the park, going to theater or watch a movie at
home. Both you and your adolescent can do household
chores together, do laundry together, clean the house
together.
Quality time does not matter how many minutes and hours
have you spent time with each other but how each of you
have been smiling and laughing at the available time
together.
There are times when you spent whole day in the house
and yet the whole time you are there your continuously
nagging and making your adolescent wish you leave.

17. •Do go to church, share the spiritual respect and pray with
your adolescent. This is the most powerful tool that each
parent should know about parenting adolescent. Building
that spiritual strength with your adolescent is imperative
since it is the aspect that serves as a guiding principle to
every man's journey.
When you are successful in bringing your child to church
without a hint of refusal from them, when you see your child
volunteering for a part in the school and in the community
and if you see the smile when he is doing it, consider yourself
successful in Parenting Adolescent 101.

18. DON'Ts

19. •Do not reprimand your adolescent in front of the
kid. Unfortunately, there are parents who do this and do it with
so much gusto. There are even parents who willfully hit their
adolescent in the public.
In some countries, this is tolerable but should not be a parent's
resort as this will have a negative impact to your child's well-
being.
If your child has done something wrong or fails at school, do not
treat him as if he is the worst prisoner in the world.

20. •Do not take his wrongdoings for granted. Talk to your
adolescent if he has done something wrong. He may have
done that against his will or due to peer pressure only or he
may have done that to get your attention.
In any case, do not blame him for his mistakes. It takes two
to tango even with parenting adolescent.

21. •Do not ever use this phrase, "When I was at your
age…" especially if you are reprimanding him. This
will only make him feel rebellious.
You are making a comparison which leads to the
most important thing to avoid,

22. •DO NOT EVER COMPARE your adolescent. Each individual is
unique from each other. If you compare your teens to his or
her siblings or to any adolescents in the neighborhood or in
the school, your teen will have the impression that you have
regrets having him as your child.
They will feel so bad about it that they will instead rebel and
worst hate you for doing it.

23. As a parent, one thing you should know is this. Your child is
the exact replica of your personality. How you treat them,
care for them and deal with them is seen on how they will
deal with the people surrounding them.
If they always nag, have the feeling that the world is against
them and they are so negative in almost anything, chances are
that is how you deal with your adolescent. That alone makes
you less of a parent.
On the other hand, if your child is optimistic and genuinely
feels happy being with others, is not afraid to accept his
mistakes and always have the courage to carry on with things,
well then, congratulations, you have been able to handle
parenting adolescent perfectly.

24. Adolescent Depression: What you can do
about it
Adolescent depression is a behavioral disorder that occurs
mostly in the teenage years, between the ages of 13 - 19
years old. This is can be prolong until the early twenties
depending on the mental development of the child.
The disorder may include persistent sadness, discouragement,
low self-esteem, lack of confidence, lack of interests in any
activities, insecurities and self-doubt. If left unnoticed it
could lead to major depression which can be very fatal to the
adolescent.

25. Causes and risk factors
There are a lot of reasons why an
adolescent suffers depression. You may
wonder why a child whom you think has all
the luxuries in the world can still be
depressed. Common causes of this are as
follows:

26. 1.The normal process of maturation - this plays a great role in the
life of a teen. Physically, a teenager has transformations that
she/he may not have prepared for it. For boys, physical changes
include hoarse and deep voice, Adam's apple is visible, increase of
height, mustache are thicker, hair growing in the private parts and
armpit hairs. For girls, it is more profound and obvious.
Menarche, growth of breasts, hips is more defined, hairs in the
private parts and armpit hair. Even if this maturity stage is
normal, if kids are left unguided through this stage, they feel
scared, ashamed and confused what to do. They will be the
center of tease in the group and when they go home with no one
to speak all the confusions to, depression comes in.

27. 2. Conflicts with parents and/or Significant Others - Adolescents
are very independent. They want to do things on their own. As
much as possible, they do not want their parents getting on their
way. But, of course, parents normally interfere especially if the
child is no longer in his right tracks.
Conflicts and arguments arise and the teen ager may feel that he
is not loved. This can also happen if the parents do not have
much time for their kids. They would feel unloved and when they
are going to be reprimanded for doing something to get your
attention, they would feel really bad about that.

28. 3.Sibling Rivalry - This happens if in the family, favoritism is
very significant. Usually it is the child with lesser
achievements, lesser beauty, less talented and less appreciated
that suffers the depression.
Unfortunately, there are parents whose favoritism is greatly
shown in their dealings with their kids. The worst part is that
parents would compare sibling A with sibling B. This has a
great impact to the child's feelings. Aside from depression, the
child will also feel hatred to the parents and to the other
siblings.

29. 4.Death, loneliness and fear - It can also be a disturbing
happenstance such as an untimely death of a friend or someone
close to the child and no one is there to comfort the child.
Feelings of loneliness and fears would haunt the child. If a child
in your house is undergoing a sudden loss like this, it is
imperative that you are there to give the comfort.
Break up of a relationship even if adults consider it as "puppy
love" plays a major role in the behavior of a child. If there is no
proper explanation and the child has no one to talk to, it can
lead to serious depression and even untimely suicide.

30. 5.Failures at school - this does not mean the grades
only. If the child is not accepted by the adolescents at
school, confusion comes in.
If there is no one for her at home, she would confine in
her own world and will feel so depress about it.

31. Adolescents who have low self-esteem, highly critical
and who are very pessimist are most likely to feel
depressed when a negative situation is thrown at him
or her. They get so emotional stress and adolescent
depression sets in.

32. Risk factors
•Child abuse - physically, mentally and sexually
•Severe and unusual medical conditions
•History of depression in the family
•Shyness, timidity and aloofness
•Lack of appreciation

33. What you can do about it
So, you notice one day that your adolescent is acting strange. This
becomes worse so you consult a child psychologist only to be told
that your adolescent has adolescent depression. Instead of asking
yourself why, ask yourself what you can do to help your child cope
up the depression.
You can consider undergoing therapy sessions with your child with
his psychotherapist. However, if you are financially strained, what
you can do is to spend more quality time with your child. You can
ask a home remedy programs from a psychologist or even check
out information from the web and also books in the bookstore.
But, the most effective cure for adolescent depression is
LOVE. You have to let them feel they are loved and that they are
important even if they fail at school or in any undertakings they
are going through.