Pressures Facing Teens Today

We can all remember the pressures of adolescence. Cigarettes, sex, skipping school and tagging are the pressures many of us faced, but today's teenagers seem to be finding these and even worse pressures as early as elementary school. What was taboo in our teenage years has quickly become the norm amongst tweens and teens alike. Before we can effectively deal with these pressures, it is crucial we, as parents, understand and identify the problems facing today's teens.

Sex and pregnancy

I felt compelled to start with one of the most controversial and common problems facing teenagers in the 21st century. While during my adolescent years, girls and boys were sexually active, the pregnancy rate was much lower. Many of these young parents ended up in parenting classes offered by the high school and succumbed to home tutor programs in lieu of a classroom setting. Whispers and rumors abounded about anyone daring to become pregnant at 15 or 16 years old. Pregnancy in middle school was just flat out taboo and you didn't see it at all. I learned this is not the case anymore. I am mother to a 13 year old eighth grader and the stories of pregnant girls and horny tweens has my head reeling. In his middle school there are currently five pregnant girls ages ranging from 12 to 14. The high school rate is double that with more and more teens getting pregnant every year. The high school offers a parenting class and daycare in my town for these teen mothers, and currently, there is a waiting list for students and children. Its heartbreaking to me as a parent, that we have not prepared our children for this problem by equipping them with knowledge regarding safe sex or pushing them to wait until adulthood. The fact is, teen pregnancy is emotionally, mentally and physically detrimental to these girls and boys. Most often, teen boys shirk responsibility and abandon both mother and child, often claiming they had nothing to do with impregnating the young girls. Teen girls go through the stress of telling their parents, supporting a baby when they are just babies themselves, deciding whether to give the baby up or keep it and the fear of labor and delivery. Physically, growth is stunted due to teen pregnancy and the risk of complications is greatly increased. Its a sad dilemna that can not be ignored.

Drugs

In the later part of the 20th century, the pressure to smoke marijuana or do speed was probably the most talked about and experienced form of peer pressure. It was predominate among high school students and college students. Well, guess what parents; your elementary children are facing pressure to use drugs right now. With the availability of prescription narcotics, marijuana and meth, many children younger than 10 are finding pressure to do drugs a common problem. This creates a rise in premature death and juvenile rehabilitation needs. As parents, it is our job to stress the dangers of drug use on any scale. Again, it is my belief that my generation will be known as the lax parents, who believed in allowing their children to explore individuality by ignoring these dangers, because frankly, when we were younger, meth was unheard of and prescription drug abuse wasn't as rampant as it is today. Children are finding it easier and easier to gain access to the ingredients needed to cook their own meth and find narcotics within reach in grandma or grandpa's medicine cabinet.

Criminal activity

This is not just a ghetto problem people. Wake up! Its easy for children to get guns, explosives and to steal. Today's children, tweens and teens are finding it easier to settle disputes with weapons rather than traditional common sense. Admittance to juvenile detention centers is at an all time high in many states. With the internet and easy instruction to bomb making, obtaining firearms and how to break into a home without leaving behind evidence, these kids are testing the waters and leaving behind widespread devastation. Columbine High is just one example of the desire to settle dispute with blood shed. Our children are messing up their lives over a quick thrill or uncontrolled anger problems that we have long ignored. The ramifications of this are far worse than a spanking or grounding for a couple weeks. Bullying also falls under this category as children result to physical violence and terroristic threats in order to create control and boost their own self esteem. Its time we get ahold of the situation and stop making excuses or turning a blind eye to this problem or we won't have a future through these children.

In my personal opinion, we have become a society too obsessed with political correctness and alternative discipline that simply does not work. Many parents fail to communicate with their children on a regular basis and arm them with the information they need to make informed decisions. Whats sad, is most parents don't see this until they are talking to their child through iron bars, planning their child's funeral or raising a grandbaby when they are still young adults themselves.