Discovering what makes teenagers unique and special
Everyone has at least an idea of who they are, even when what they know might just be a fringe of the whole truth. I once asked some teenagers who they thought they were through questionnaire. Some of the answers I got were quite funny; but how many of us can frankly answer the same question without mincing words?
Let me share some of the answers I got
Chukwudi; my name is chucks……..let’s leave the other name
Emeka; I am friendly but most times shy and partly social
Olaolu; I am a dude who loves designing buildings, very nice ones at that.
Tolu; I am someone very good at playing with machines and construction way back from childhood
The responses above were given by young minds aged between 13 and 21. I don’t want to be a judge of how right or wrong these responses are, but one thing is certain, we can fathom that most young people describe themselves based on their perceived abilities, characters and what others might have described them as.
Teenagers stand out based on:
- The sheer number of development, tasks and challenges we go through;
- The swiftness of our brain development and;
- The complexity of our external environment.
Nine things that makes teenagers special and unique
Though quite similar to children in how fast and knotty our development is, teenagers differ in the sense that our development is not as obvious as that of children.
Here are nine things that makes teenagers unique and special, that every parent, teenage coach, teacher and care giver should take note of.
- We are bundles of opportunities
- We are bags of possibilities, though short of experience
- We are beings in transition; changing phase from childhood to adulthood.
- We are individuals whose lives are taking shape and experiencing rapid physical, mental, social and emotional changes that are not in sync.
- We are people that respond to challenges based on the interplay of some factors such as peer pressure, societal influence and environmental factors.
- You can describe us as people that develop positive attributes through learning and experience, especially through our own personal experiences.
- We also experience emotions strongly; what scientists have shown to be a result of our cognitive and physical development.
- We have strong needs to feel accepted and appreciated.
- We are undergoing puberty, have undergone puberty and are in the process of maturity.
Some of the changes we undergo are quite clear, most of them occur internally – changes in our mental, emotional, social, moral and sexual awareness and capacity. We would be correct to say that what goes on inside of us is a mirror image of the demands of our external environment.
With all of this and more we can infer that adolescence is a period of making choices, choices that can affect one’s destiny and destination in life. You will agree with me that it’s a time to lay foundations in some aspects of one’s life such as career and life pursuits. Unlike the adult years where desires, interests and excitement dwindle, adolescence is a peak period of the youthful desires.
