Things That Teens Believe About Relationships

When it comes to friendships many teenage kids are laboring under some big misconceptions. It is up to you as a parent to watch out for some of them and correct them so that they do not become chronic life-long beliefs that limit their options in life or ability to relate to others.

Perhaps the biggest and stupidest myth that teenagers subscribe to is that girls and boys can't be friends. Make sure your teen knows that the longest-term and most successful relationships come from men and women who are friends first. Stress that it is important to have a relationship with someone who likes and respects you before you get intimate and physical. Warn them about how easy it is to pretend that someone you are attracted to is actually your best friend.

Another thing that a teen that does not date is not cool. This is ridiculous as many teens do not date because they are concentrating on school, extra-curricular clubs or community interests. Many also do not date because of family or religious beliefs. Explain how it is important to develop your own character as well as relationships with others.

Unfortunately many teens also believe that a girl that has a lot of friends that are boys is a slut. This is the kind of profiling of young females that can be very damaging. If your child is partaking in the kind of gossip that brands a young woman as a slut then you need to correct his trend just in the name of being a good feminist.

Another thing that girls in particular believe is that if they are taken out on a date and a boy spends a lot of money on them then they have to put out. You need to tell your boys and your girls that money does not equal sexual favors. No one should be pressured or intimidated into giving sex to someone else. This is also why it is a good idea to convince your teens to do inexpensive or free things with the opposite sex like take a bike ride or got a movie matinee. This very wide-spread belief is also why you should always make sure that your teenage girl has enough money to get home, pay her own way or do what it takes to get out of situations where someone may be offering to pay her way in return for sex.

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How to Identify a Teen at Risk

Are you living with a teen at risk? The teenage years are the ones where people tend to want to test your boundaries the most. Most teens make mistakes during this phase of growth but you want to help them prevent making the type of mistake that can cause them years of emotional or physical damaged. This can happen if your kid gets involved in a car accident, school shooting or a robbery of any kind.

A teen at risk will be demonstrating behaviors such as underage drinking, drug use and abuse, smoking, unprotected sex, excessive dieting, eating disorders, driving while under the influence, rough-housing with friends and driving while talking on a cell phone.

You might be thinking that smoking cigarettes is not so dangerous for your kid but studies have shown that hat “nicotine is the number one entrance drug into other substance abuse problems.” Teens who smoke each day are more likely to use other drug substances.

Teenagers may experiment with drugs, both legal and including marijuana, cocaine, crack, and methamphetamines, which are particular lethal for teens at risk. Sometimes the temptation is in your own home. Some adolescents sneak into their parents’ medicine cabinets to use drugs prescribed for someone else. Others abuse cough medications and codeine medications for a “high.” Many of these medications also contain speed which ironically, can help improve studies but is not recommended as a way of doing so!

It is too easy to deny that your kid might be having sex. Whether or not your teen will choose to sleep with their boyfriend or girlfriend, it is our job to educate them about the transmission of disease and/or potential pregnancy. Loss of self-esteem and destructive behaviors can arise when teens start engaging in sex at too early an age because they cannot handle the feelings that come with so much attachment.

Dangerous dieting is also a killer. When weight loss reaches a certain level, or the child cannot stop obsessing about food and weight, a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa may be warranted. Boys and girls that suffer from this disease have a distorted body image and may think that they are “fat,” when they are becoming sicker and thinner.

A certain amount of risk-taking is normal in a child but when it comes to their health and basic rules of the road make sure that they are well educated and prevent them from experiencing the often life=-long consequences of making one big mistake while young.

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