12 Overwhelming Challenges Teenagers Face & How Parents Can Help

1. DEPRESSION: According to a recent report A whopping 11 percent of adolescents have a depressive disorder by age 18. Teenagers have problems with their emotions; low self -esteem, fears, feelings of inadequacy, anger, guilt, bitterness and lack of forgiveness.
2. WHAT TO DO: Educate your children about depression and its dangers and let your child know what to do to overcome depression. Also look out for signs of depression in your child and let your child be treated quickly for it as untreated depression can cause a variety of educational and social problems. Some of the signs of depression are sudden withdrawal, changes in sleep patterns and poor performance in school. Parents should take any of these signs serious .
3. BULLYING: According to research conducted recently, 30 percent of Teens said they have been involved in bullying either as a victim or as the bully. Bullying can lead to a variety of physical injuries and mental health problems or even death. Unfortunately the rise in social media use by Teens has made bullying much more public and more pervasive. Bullying can either be physical or cyber or both. Every parent must understand this and should be ready to help their children.

WHAT TO DO: Be involved in social media like your children. Don’t be an analog parent while raising digital children. Know and follow your Teen’s social media accounts and ensure you talk to them about the dangers of bullying. Let your children know that you are there for them to fight it out with bullies at home or in school and warn your children never to be a bully and never to use their size or other advantages against others.

4. SEXUAL ACTIVITY: In a 2013 survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 47 percent of High school students reported being sexually active. Another report has it that of the 20 million new sexually transmitted disease cases each year, more than half were among young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

   Every Teen will be sexually tempted at one time or the other. Friends will urge them on and make them look foolish for not doing it.

   WHAT TO DO: Be proactive and talk to your Teens about sex even if you think they are not sexually active. Teach them about the dangers of sex outside of marriage and what they can do to avoid it. Never assume they know these and don’t be ashamed to talk to them about sex. It is better to prepare them and make sure they get their questions answered than hope they know what they’re doing.

5. 5. DRUG ABUSE: Teens are more into drug now than ever before. Marijuana is commonly used among them than other drugs. Don’t ever think your child can’t be on drug. You had better watch your back!

   WHAT TO DO: Talk to Your Teen about the dangers of drugs and how it will negatively impact his life. Let him know that at a stage in his life, friends will come up with many ideas about drugs and make him feel he is a boy if he is not using them. Don’t forget to mention the dangers of using drugs without prescription. Many Teens do not recognize the dangers of taking a friend’s prescription or popping a few pills that aren’t prescribed to them

   6. ALCOHOL: A recent study showed that 23.7 percent of High school seniors reported binge drinking (5 or more drinks in a row) in the past two weeks. Many Teens are now battling the challenge of staying clean when friends are on their neck to take to Alcohol. WHAT TO DO: Please don’t say my son is a child of God and he can never do that. Many parents live by assumptions and have forgotten that we are not talking about Toddlers here but Teenagers. Hold regular conversations about the risks of underage drinking. Let your child know what he/she loses by taking alcohol, how it affects his health, studies, family and his relationship with God. Educating your Teen about the dangers and expressing your disapproval of underage drinking will go a long way to reducing your Teen’s risk.
   7. ACADEMIC PROBLEMS: A child may struggle with his academic life at one time or the other. They may not speak out but their results will show that something is wrong with them. Some may even be tempted to drop out of school. 

WHAT TO DO: Don’t just be a parent; you also need to be a teacher. Every teacher may not be a parent, but every parent must be a teacher. Stay involved in your Teen’s education. Provide support and guidance and be ready to assist when your Teen encounters problems.

8. PEER PRESSURE: Every Teen wants to “belong”. They desire to be accepted among their peers rather than be seen as Daddy’s boy or Mummy’s pet. This gives room for their peers to pressurize them into doing what is not right. Through peers, many Teens were introduced to drugs, crime, Occultism, etc. Without peer pressure, many children would have come out clean and pure.

WHAT TO DO: Let your children know what is called peer pressure. Equip them to face the world by helping your Teen develop the skills needed to make healthy choices and to resist peer pressure. Talk to your Teen about what to do whenever he/she makes a mistake. Sometimes “really good children” make poor decisions. Encourage your Teen to talk to you when they make a mistake. Let them feel free to ask you questions when they are confused. No question is too trivial. If it is important to them, it should be very important to you.

9. SOCIAL MEDIA: The advent of the internet and social media has changed the way people relate with each other. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and others can be great ways for Teens to connect with one another yet social media can be problematic for several reasons. Unhealthy messages often go viral on social media and Teens frequently compare themselves to one another.

Cyberbully takes place on Social media today. Sexting does get posted on the social media as a form of revenge. Social media is also affecting many Teens as they are getting addicted to it to the detriment of their academics. Most Teens are not also aware that no matter how long they’ve been friends with somebody on social media they’ve not really known the person, so it’s not friendship in the real sense of it.

WHAT TO DO: ? Get involved in Social media. ? Know what your Teen is doing online. ? Educate yourself about the latest apps, websites, and social media pages Teens are using. ? Let your Teens know what is appropriate and what is not.

10. CULTISM: Lots of Teens are joining gangs and Occultic groups on campuses, leading to violent crimes and deaths. I can’t forget the case of a 17-year old that was mutilated by a rival cult group in his final year on campus. He would have graduated with a first-class. His father was a Lecturer at the university. Cultism on campus used to be a male problem, but nowadays ladies cult groups are all over the places which are even more dreadful than their male counterparts.

WHAT TO DO: Let your children know the dangers of joining gangs and Occultic groups who promise them security and protection but in truth endangers the life of the child more. Children who joined cult groups are more at risk of danger from rival cult groups than children who never joined a group.

11) ADDICTION: Teens are more addicted to many things nowadays more than ever before. Things like: Internet, sex, television, food, video games, sleep, drugs, playfulness, romance novels etc. Some of these addictions like food and sleep may look innocent but when they become an addiction they affect the life of the child. Food addiction may lead to obesity, while sleep addiction can adversely affect the child’s academic life. WHAT TO DO: Talk to your child about the dangers of addiction. Let him know that addiction begins from something you do regularly that becomes a habit and then grows beyond that until it becomes something one cannot help but do and can’t control. Be on the lookout for anything that is turning to an addiction in the life of your child and help to break it.

12) TEENAGE PREGNANCY: Teenage pregnancy is now a very common thing in town. Many girls have to drop out of school because of this, while others died in the process of aborting pregnancies. WHAT TO DO: Train your daughter about sex and its danger before marriage. Let her read our book titled PURE GOLD and let your boy read our title STRONGER THAN DIAMOND. Let your daughter that should she make a mistake and become pregnant she should not make another mistake by committing abortion which may cost her life.