Tween Research Paper

It is not uncommon to hear stories about a teenager experiencing mood swings and rebelling against those in authority. Nor is it uncommon to experience general sadness or anxiety in high school and college. However, it is often difficult to tell the difference between normal teenage angst and clinical depression. It is not commonly known that there has recently been a staggering rise of depression in adolescents. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in twelve adolescents in the United States suffer from depression, which is 8.3 % of the teenage population. In order to combat the problem of adolescent depression, it is essential that parents take an active role in their adolescent’s life by both acknowledging and

Situations that affect adults can range from divorce, alcoholism, and depression. Although not as talked about, teenage parenting also plays a big role in the way a child will develop. In most cases, teenage pregnancies are unplanned and as a result young teenage girls either decide to keep, abort, or put the baby

Parents usually have the best intentions – like protecting their children from life's hardships and preparing them for adulthood. However as with many other aspects of parenting, the results do not always match the intentions. Overprotective parents generally want to protect their children from harm, hurt, pain, failure, unhappiness, bad experiences, rejection, and disappointment (Lindsey 1). However, parents must realize that overprotective parenting has certain side effects. Parents believe that they are doing a favor for their children by keeping them safe without realizing that this parenting style can have severe effects on children such as robbing children of the essential life skills that they need in order to have a healthy

For those of us that are parents, we know that raising a child to adulthood is not an easy task but one which we do lovingly (hopefully) and responsibly. I’ll go out on a limb to say here that everyone agrees that the teenage years are the most challenging. The general consensus is that teenagers are unruly, aggressive, careless, spoiled and dependent on technology. On the other hand, I believe along with a small group of other parents that teenagers are also brilliant and in the process of becoming and reaching their potential and that they deserve much more respect than what they are given.

The title “Tweens: Ten going on Sixteen” was a good choice for this writing. Kay Hymowitz discussed the problems of children growing up too fast. Hymowitz talked about how these children are maturing sooner and skipping through crucial parts of their development. This was her thesis and it fit really well with the title. Just by reading the title I had a good understanding of what the essay was going to be about. The word Tweens made me think of girls around the age of ten or twelve. When I read ten going on sixteen, I thought of the expression twelve going on twenty. This expression is usually used when children act or try to act much older than they are. So, just by reading the title I knew it was probably going to be about children trying to act older than they are. The author did a good job of giving me a glimpse of what the essay would be about.

adolescent girls distance themselves from their parents at the exact time that they need them

Born on Christmas Day in Philadelphia, Kay S. Hymowitz is a graduate from Turks University, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. The 66 year old is currently a professor at Brooklyn College and Parsons School of Design. In 2010, she was named William E. Simon fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the contributing editor of City Journal. Hymowitz enjoys writing about American childhood and education. Her books include, Ready or Not: Why Treating Our Children as Small Adults Endangers Their Future and Ours (1999), Liberation’s Children: Parents and Kids in a Postmodern Age (2003), Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age (2006), and Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys (2011). Hymowitz is a wife and mother of three. She currently lives in Brooklyn. In 1998, she wrote “Tweens: Ten Going On Sixteen.”

Imagine you were ten years old. What were you doing? Were you in a park? Were you playing with toys? Now look around at ten-year old’s today. There seems to be a noticeable shift. Most of them have some sort of electronic device of their own, whether it be a smartphone or a tablet. That shift becomes even more apparent if you were ten years old, 30 years ago versus if you were ten years old only eight years ago. In the essay “Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen,” Kay S. Hymowitz suggests that tweens are growing up too fast. She states that while there are complex causes for this, “two major and fairly predictable themes emerged: a sexualized and glitzy media-driven marketplace and absentee parents” (Page 203). This and, “peer group form a vicious circle that works to distort the development of youngsters…,” according to Hymowitz (Page 203).

Adolescence is a critical time of development. During this period there are significant changes in brain development, emotions, cognition, behavior, and personal relationships. It is during this time that most major mental health disorders appear, many of which carry over into adulthood. Behavior patterns such as substance abuse also often develop during this time and may continue throughout adulthood. Many adolescents struggling with mental health issues begin to exhibit symptoms such as acting out at home or in school, showing a decreased interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, or bringing home poor grades. Others ultimately are charged with offenses ranging from status

The article “Inside the Teenage Brain” by Marty Wolner states that recently, brain researchers have been able to do a great quantity of detailed studies on the human brain. Despite previous thoughts about the teenage brain, development of the brain through the teenage years is very dynamic. The teenage brain is still learning how to process certain information properly in the thinking part of the brain, so often teens may not process all the information necessary to make responsible decisions. Nevertheless, the teenage years can be very stressful for both parents and for teens. Getting through the teenage years can be difficult, but with the right amount of healthy communication, discipline and support the road ahead won’t be so rough. At this

For hundreds of years young children were married off early in life sometimes 12 years old for girls, and 14 years old for boys. So why doesn’t that happen now? This simply is because starting in the early 1900s the age “limit” as some would say started increasing. Now instead of having to be 12 or 14, a person has to be anywhere between 15 and 21 to get married. Some of the reasons why this change occurred is compulsory state schooling, child labor laws, and studies showing the negative effects of early in life marriages (Dahl).

" Parents should not always force their children to do something but should listen to them instead. They should also spend more time with their children and try many other ways to talk with them. Teenagers are eager to become adults and have a strong sense of independence. If the parents often loudly reprimand them, not only hurt their feelings but it can cause their insecurity in adulthood. Don't scorn or ridicule the idea of teenagers, instead always ask for and respect their opinions.

Teens can regain trust with their parents through their actions, because statements are not believable since they are easier said than done. For example, teens can start improving their grades, learn from their mistakes, communicating with their parents more about what's going on, and tell the truth when asked a question.

When parents have problems and don’t want their kids to know, they turn to friends for advice. They can discuss about grownup things like life issues, marital problems, or children problems. When teens have problems and doesn’t want their parents to get involved or know,

We would like to start this speech off with a little comparison between what parents think and what we, being the teenagers, think. It is well known that parents and teenagers have not been always been known to agree on everything. Whether it was that haircut you got our that meal they tried to feed you. Sometimes we just don’t agree on everything. For instant, parenting in general, is often described differently depending on who you ask. According to some parents, “parenting is 50% love, 10% lies, 10% yelling and 30% unclogging toilets”. To them, “parenting is basically just listening to yourself talk because nobody else is.”. However, according to some, well most teenagers, “parenting is embarrassing us whenever, wherever 90% of the time”. To us, “parenting is having our own personalized cook, counsellor, chauffeur and bank”. So yeah, there's a little bit of controversy there. But parents, they’re great, I mean, it is an huge understatement to say that you guys are awesome! To