THE PREVENTION OF ADOLESCENT PROBLEMS

[摘要] Most child rearing advice is built around the small, nuclear family. The family that plays, prays, camps together, stays together. Not long ago, families were much larger, frequently with many relatives living near and including maids and nannies.Today's small family and great mobility have created special problems for adolescents. Many teenagers on their road to independence, go through a stage when their parents seem hopelessly out-dated and stupid. During this period, no parental advice is acceptable. In years past, other members of the extended family could substitute for the parents. Now teenagers are thrown on their peers for advice, peers trying to cope with the very same problems.Parents should be told in the child's early years to help the child to develop lasting relationships with other adults to prepare for those adolescent years. When the time comes, these adults can give the very same advice which is unacceptable when it comes from the parents.Well-to-do families use summer camps and boarding school to help ease them through this sometimes difficult period. Often these adolescents get along well at school and in other homes. Their own home is where things go badly. Rather than waiting until the problem gradually spreads, I would suggest placing the child in another home, perhaps exchanging adolescents, for a vacation period or a whole year. Successful programs, like the "Experiment in International Living," "Schoolboys Abroad," and the American Field Service have made this kind of experience available to well-to-do or gifted children who usually need it least.

[学科分类] 儿科学