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Harnessing
the Power
of the Teenage Brain
By Rifka Schonfeld, Director of S.O.S.
(Strategies For Optimum Success)
Teenage myth #1: Parents and teens just the changes in the way the brain is devel-
need to survive the adolescent years. The ŽƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĂƚ ĂƌĞ ŵŽƟǀĂƟŶŐ ƚĞĞŶĂŐĞ ďĞŚĂǀ-
teenage years are all about pain, confu- ior.
sion, and terror.
Teenage fact #3: Teenagers do not be-
Teenage myth #2: Hormones make teen- come adults and completely independent
agers go crazy. at the end of adolescence. In reality, they
are moving from dependence to interde-
Teenage myth #3: At the end of adoles- pendence – the ability to depend on you
cence, teenagers become adults and are and your ability to depend on them.
completely independent.
***
In his new book, Brainstorm, Dr. Dan
Bulletin
Siegel debunks all three of the myths You might say, so who cares whether
about teenagers above. Instead, he ex- those are myths or facts? It’s all the same
plains why these myths need to be chal- to you if you have a crazy teenager who
lenged and corrected. ŝƐ ƌĞĂĐƟŶŐ ƚŽ ŚŽƌŵŽŶĞƐ Žƌ ďƌĂŝŶ ĐŚĂŶŐĞ͘
What Siegel challenges everyone to do is
Teenage fact #1: The teenage years are to use the power of the adolescent brain
not about surviving. They are about thriv- for teenagers and adults alike. He argues
ing. There’s a lot of work that is happen- that if we label adolescents as crazy and
ing during adolescence that needs to hap- immature, we can expect them to be that
pen in order to develop core character way. If, instead, we react to “adolescence
traits for the future. Teenagers who test ĂƐ Ă ƟŵĞ ŽĨ ŝŶƚĞŶƐŝƚLJ͕ ĐƌĞĂƟǀŝƚLJ͕ ĂŶĚ ƐŽ-
boundaries and who have the passion to ĐŝĂů ĞdžƉůŽƌĂƟŽŶ͕ ǁĞ ǁŝůů ŐŝǀĞ ƚŚĞŵ ƚŚĞ
explore are working on themselves. ability to develop and explore.”
Teenage fact #2: There are more hor- Siegel explains that there are four ways
mones during the teenage years, but it is that the brain is developing during ado-
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