How to help teenagers go through their adolescence successfully
When teenagers reach adolescence, they experience many complicated changes in both physical and mental development. Parents play a very important role in aiding adolescents go through this phase of transition. From my viewpoint, by doing two following crucial actions, parents will be of great help to their adolescent children.
First of all, parents should treat their children’s friends open-mindedly because adolescents are greatly influenced by their friends. It is the fact that many parents prevent their children from making friends with other adolescents of the same sex or the opposite sex. Actually, this method cannot help adolescents avoid being influenced by bad friends. On the contrary, it limits parents’ control on their children, for adolescents can still secretly make friends without their parents’ permission. On the other hand, by keeping an open mind, parents are aware of what types of people their children are striking up a friendship with, and they can help their children avoid some bad friends. As for adolescents, gaining independence and respect from their parents, they will probably be closer to their parents.
Secondly, it is important that parents offer their adolescent children sex education. In some Asian countries, a number of parents think that adolescents are still immature, and it is not time they taught their children about sex. As a consequence, many adolescents have sex unsafely, and they suffered from sexually-transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy or discrimination from their classmates and teachers. Since adolescents start having a strong affection for the opposite sex, it is difficult for parents to completely prevent them from having sex. The only thing they can do is educating their children about what sex is, what age should a person has sex and how to have it safely. After being broadened their mind about sex, adolescents will carefully consider if they have sex at their age or, at least, avoid having unsafe sex.
In general, being open to adolescents and educating them about sex are two effective ways to help them pass their adolescence successfully. They are also the two good ways for parents to show their love and build up a close relationship between them and their adolescents.
Related vocabulary items:
- milestone: an important event
- spurt: increase rapidly
- reminisce: recall something
- throw a tantrum: show a strong feeling of anger
- broaden one’s mind: increase one’s knowledge
- bear in mind: remember
- something slipped my mind: I forgot
- have something in mind: have an idea
- having something on your mind: be worried
- one’s mind went blank: one cannot remember anything
- put your mind at ease: stop somebody from worrying
- to my mind = in my opinion
- cross your mind: if something crosses your mind, you are thinking of it
- take a stroll/trip/walk down memory lane: remember happy things in the past
- tell two people apart = distinguish between A and B = discriminate between A and B: (We are so alike that even my parents cannot tell us apart)
- be mature = reach maturity
- lavish money on something = spend money lavishly/ wastefully
- initiate something: be the first one to do something (You are the host, so you initiate the conversation)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Generation gap
Essay
Generation gap is unavoidable in not only extended families with many generations but also nuclear families between parents and children. A number of conflicts in a family are brought about by generation gap. In my opinion, to limit bad effects of generation gap, each family should use three following methods.
First of all, it is important that family members discuss openly about their childhood or funny and sad incidents in family gatherings. This activity does not only create a close relationship but also helps build up understanding among all members. For instance, once children are aware that their grandparents and even their parents did not have a good upbringing during their hard childhood, they will stop complaining on the previous generations’ obsoleteness. In the meantime, once old people realize young people are nurtured in a new modern way, it is easy for them to be tolerant of young people’s new habits or hobbies.
Secondly, people of each generation should not develop a very high feeling about themselves. In order to do that, they should not think that they are the only right people in their family because each person has his or her own limitation. When all members do not insist on their own opinions but listen to others, they can easily negotiate in case they have conflicting views. Also, together with keeping an open mind, each member should learn to respect one another’s good personalities. For example, teenagers realize that their parents have to struggle with pain to support them financially, and they stop rebel against their strictness. Parents realize that their children’s new style do no harm to their study and stop imposing their own unsuitable standard on their children.
In general, generation gap and its bad effects can be limited if all members cooperate to build up a close-knit family in which they are open and tolerant of each other. I strongly believe that each family, by doing that, can enjoy a cozy atmosphere with the minimum interference of generation gap.
Related vocabulary items
- in a family way: be pregnant (Our dog is in a family way)
- the oldies: old people
- golden oldies: old people who are energetic and successful
- the world is our oyster: there is a wide range of opportunities (Golden oldies often say "The world is our oyster")
- a family man: a man who spends most of his time with his wife and children
- wild somebody up = get in someone's hair: make someone annoyed (My mother's over-caution really wilds me up. She just always gets on my hair)
- run in a family: become a long-standing tradition (Teaching runs in my family)
- over the hill: getting old and pass the age at which you are the most productive (Come on, grandpa, you can't dance. You are over the hill)
- act one's age: behave in a way that is traditionally suitable for someone of that age (Please act your age, grandpa. You cannot dance for toffee)
- do something for toffee: do something unskillfully (I cannot knit for toffee)
- hand down: inherit (My father's stubbornness is handed down to me, or I inherit my father's stubbornness, or I take my father's stubbornness)
- maternal: belonging to mother (maternal grandmother)
- paternal: belonging to father (paternal grandmother)
- parental: belonging to parents (parental support)
- upbringing: educating a child
- sibling rivalry: competing between brothers and sisters (Sibling rivalry can be avoided once parents give their children a good, stable upbringing)
Generation gap is unavoidable in not only extended families with many generations but also nuclear families between parents and children. A number of conflicts in a family are brought about by generation gap. In my opinion, to limit bad effects of generation gap, each family should use three following methods.
First of all, it is important that family members discuss openly about their childhood or funny and sad incidents in family gatherings. This activity does not only create a close relationship but also helps build up understanding among all members. For instance, once children are aware that their grandparents and even their parents did not have a good upbringing during their hard childhood, they will stop complaining on the previous generations’ obsoleteness. In the meantime, once old people realize young people are nurtured in a new modern way, it is easy for them to be tolerant of young people’s new habits or hobbies.
Secondly, people of each generation should not develop a very high feeling about themselves. In order to do that, they should not think that they are the only right people in their family because each person has his or her own limitation. When all members do not insist on their own opinions but listen to others, they can easily negotiate in case they have conflicting views. Also, together with keeping an open mind, each member should learn to respect one another’s good personalities. For example, teenagers realize that their parents have to struggle with pain to support them financially, and they stop rebel against their strictness. Parents realize that their children’s new style do no harm to their study and stop imposing their own unsuitable standard on their children.
In general, generation gap and its bad effects can be limited if all members cooperate to build up a close-knit family in which they are open and tolerant of each other. I strongly believe that each family, by doing that, can enjoy a cozy atmosphere with the minimum interference of generation gap.
Related vocabulary items
- in a family way: be pregnant (Our dog is in a family way)
- the oldies: old people
- golden oldies: old people who are energetic and successful
- the world is our oyster: there is a wide range of opportunities (Golden oldies often say "The world is our oyster")
- a family man: a man who spends most of his time with his wife and children
- wild somebody up = get in someone's hair: make someone annoyed (My mother's over-caution really wilds me up. She just always gets on my hair)
- run in a family: become a long-standing tradition (Teaching runs in my family)
- over the hill: getting old and pass the age at which you are the most productive (Come on, grandpa, you can't dance. You are over the hill)
- act one's age: behave in a way that is traditionally suitable for someone of that age (Please act your age, grandpa. You cannot dance for toffee)
- do something for toffee: do something unskillfully (I cannot knit for toffee)
- hand down: inherit (My father's stubbornness is handed down to me, or I inherit my father's stubbornness, or I take my father's stubbornness)
- maternal: belonging to mother (maternal grandmother)
- paternal: belonging to father (paternal grandmother)
- parental: belonging to parents (parental support)
- upbringing: educating a child
- sibling rivalry: competing between brothers and sisters (Sibling rivalry can be avoided once parents give their children a good, stable upbringing)
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