The Adolescent Brain – What All Teens Need to Know

Amazing blog. Parents, teachers, youth workers and young adults please check it out.

Adolescents have dynamic, open, hungry minds. They are creative, brave and curious. It has to be this way. The only way to learn many of the skills they will need to be strong, healthy adults will be to stretch beyond what they’ve always known and to experiment with the world and their place in it.

The adolescent brain is wired to drive them through this transition, but there will be a few hairpin curves along the way. Skilful drivers are not born from straight roads.

Most of their behaviour, even the most baffling, frustrating, infuriating parts of it, can be explained by the changes that are taking place in their brains. This can feel as confusing for them as it does to us. It doesn’t mean they can sit back and blame their brains for their troublesome behaviour. They need to manage these changes in a healthy, adaptive way, but to do this they need information. When they have the information, they expand their capacity to respond to the world in ways that will help them thrive.

Click here for the entire blog.