Whenever I read a headline that says something like "The Secret Lives of Teenagers," I’m tempted to roll my eyes a little. Not because I don’t think teenagers have secrets, but because usually a headline this is an attempt to dramatize the bad decisions of a few teenagers and makes parents panics that their totally normal teenager is on drugs or something like that. The truth is, most teenagers are pretty good kids and it drives me crazy how they can get a generalized bad rap in media.
Anyway, I was thinking all these things when I saw this article titled The Secret Lives of Teenagers (of course). But, I was happily surprised when I started reading it.
Even though the article starts off saying that communication is a problem between parents and teens (hello, that why I wrote my book!), it actually has some very promising and comforting stats.
A few highlights:
- The study shows that more than 70 per cent of teenagers think their parents accept them as
they are, sense when they are upset, understand what they are going
through, respect their feelings and trust their judgment. (That’s a huge number! Way to go to all those parents who inspire that kind of trust from their teenagers.) - Teenagers are not always likely to confide in parents, with only
around 50 per cent saying they "almost always" or "often" talk with
parents about troubles or difficulties. (The truth is, you don’t have to confide everything in your parents. Yes, they need to know the basics, but sometimes it’s ok to process things on your own before you talk to a friend or parent. And usually, after you’ve given yourself some time to think about things in your own mind, you can find your own solution. I would just say that when something dangerous or scary is happening, this is definitely a time to talk to your mom or dad.)
Really, teenagers today are smart, thoughtful, and generally have good heads on their shoulders. You guys pretty much rock. Now, if we can just spread the word to major media… (I’m working on it.)
