chap. 9 and 10

As most of the chapters have been so far I found 9 and 10 very interesting. So many things just make sense and are so much more easy to accept like why teenagers are anger and out of control with their emotions.....duh their amygdalas haven't grown along with the prefrontal cortex. Simple knowledge of things like that may lead to less arguments between parents and adolescents, because parents could just brush some of it off and not take everything so personally; they would finally have a reason or answer to some of their child's turmoil. I think that these chapters have sooo much useful information that they should just come with children as they are born and parents can read the next chapters as their child develops so they can understand better what their kids are going through. I remember some of being an adolescent, but so much of what I thought was life and death then really isn't that important now and I find myself wanting to tell young people that it will all be OK soon, but if there is one thing I do remember that is that as an adolescent you think no one understands and you are not going to listen to a 30 year old woman tell you she knows how you feel. I hope that all of us can use this info for our own children and share it with as many people we know to better help families through what can be a very difficult and roller coaster like ride through the adolescent years.

The radio broadcast about teens and sleep makes lots of sense to me. I remember not being able to peel myself out of bed and no sleep was ever enough; actually I am feeling that now again, but thinking that is just due to getting older and trying to keep up with school, work and my daughter, ha! Teens do need a lot of sleep and our society does not promote that with all we try to cram into a day and also the big thing I really agree with is not forcing them to go to school so early. If that one little thing can make a big difference then why doesn't every school adopt this policy? As adults we try to do it all too, and lose site that our kids are still growing and actually need this time to sleep and rejuvenate. If they must sleep let them, help them, try and get them on a healthy schedule and promote good habits of a good nights sleep. I like some of the ideas of painting kids rooms relaxing colors, or taking the computer and t.v. out of the bedroom. I had read somewhere once that to keep your room your relaxing spot and to make you want to sleep, you shouldn't do work in it or anything but sleep. When you enter that room you should feel in a relaxed state.

The broadcast about "the secret lives of boys" was very interesting and I do not think is totally a boy thing. As a teenage girl I could write novels on the secrets kept from my parents! I agree that there are stereotypes that both boys and girls are suppose to fit into and expectations that parents have of their children and when they are not met kids are not going to come forth with that information if they don't have to. Like the Melina said, "it is a right of passage" to be able to keep some secrets and sort things out on their own. Adolescents are in the process of searching for their own identities and finding out who they are and who they want to get there; if they checked in with their parents on everything they wouldn't really be learning how to stand on their own and figure anything out, would they? As a teenage girl, I was expected to behave as a young "lady". I had a lot of what my parents expected of me in the back of my mind and led a pretty honorable and positive teenage life, but when the time would come where I wasn't just what was expected I didn't go home and tell them and I found myself fabricating huge stories to make sure they would never find out. Looking back now I don't regret all the things that I had done or kept from my parents, because I think it was part of finding who I was where I belonged and if you never fail then how do you know not to do that again?