Adolescent Development

I am looking forward to getting my grade for this Tumblr assignment, as I will finally be able to see if I was on the right track. I think what would have been helpful is for Cat to give us some mid assignment feedback, just so we can see where we are going wrong or if we are doing everything right. 

This is my boyfriend Michael. Before him I had another relationship which has given me a really strong opinion that I tthink getting into relationships too young is really bad idea. When you get into a relationship too young it gets all too serious, jealousy kicks in and often it becomes a really unhealthy relationship without even noticing at the time. I was in a unhealthy relationship but being so young i refused to listen to anyone who told me otherwise. I understand there are always exceptions, but i hope my children will not get into serious relationships as young as I did. Break ups are always hard to deal with, but when you are so young and dealing with all types of stress it can really affect you mentally. I went through serious depression with my first break up, and I blame this on the fact I was too young to realize what true love is. Am I still too young? Maybe...but being older I am able to look at my relationship in a more mature way. 

There's no way I could go through a peers topic without mentioning this one. Luis has been my best friend for almost three years and I wouldn't change anything. Even though we live in different towns he has helped me through so much. He listens to me, gives me advice, makes me laugh when I need to and is just amazing. Having a friend like this can make so much of a difference through adolescence. Everyone knows how hard adolescence is, and it really helps having someone there to help. Him being a guy has never been a problem, and in some ways it has been more beneficial. 

For this weeks topic of Peers, I think it very necessary to talk about peer pressure. I think that teens are most vulnerable to peer pressure because they are so focused on "fitting in," with everyone else. This peer pressure can lead to alcohol, smoking, drugs and disobeying parents rules. Peer pressure is a big thing to stand up to, but can be avoided if you have the right friend group. If they are your real friends, they will never force you into something you don't feel comfortable doing. Peer pressure is sometimes necessary to find out who your real friends are.

I am the oldest in my family and definitely fit the stereotype, bossy. As I grew up I always hated being the oldest as it meant the most responsibility. I also had to wait for a cell phone a lot longer than my younger brother did. My brother and I definitely fought a lot growing up as he liked to argue and I liked to boss him around. We have had our good moments  though. Bringing birth order into adolescence: I think that birth order definitely influences a child's adolescent years. I had a lot of responsibility on me to do well in school, I had a lot more rules to follow, I was expected to help out around the house a lot more, and I missed out on lots of things because I had to stay at home with my brother. My brother however does not have as many responsibilities, and he doesn't have my parents watching him like a hawk all the time. however, we have both turned out reasonably the same, I am probably a bit more mature but most girls are, aren't they? ;)

I think parenting is probably the hardest job in the world. No matter what you do, you will never be able to completely please an adolescent. I think these different styles of parenting are good guidelines though. I hope to raise my children through authoritative parenting—rules with negotiation, corrective guidance, nurturance, as I think it is the best method. I never want to seem uninterested in my children's life, and I think that rules are important. Adolescents however will never be happy with their parents parenting, all the changes they go through can put stress of family relationships, but it is definitely up to the adult to understand this. Parents have been through adolescence, and so they should try their best to be understanding and supportive.

Here's the latest picture I have of my family. This was taken in Bali, 2014. I have always had a reasonably close relationship with my parents, although on the poll I clicked "Agee." I don't think that having conflicts ruined my relationship with my family in anyway, it was just something that happened. My adolescence was stressful, as I'm sure a lot of peoples are. I often came home from school and took it out on my parents. I argued that everyone else had "cool mums" and mine were always the strictest. They were over protective of me, but now I am grateful for that. When you are a teenager you don't always notice that people act the way they do because they think they are doing what is best for you. When I eventually have my own children, I am definitely going to use my parents as role models. There is nothing I would change about my family.

An interesting article regarding teenagers lack of morality. Why are teenagers getting more and more immature and lacking important morals? I am interested in what New Zealand can do to increase teenagers morality. Is it up to the parents to teach these morals, or should morals be something that is taken more seriously in schools? 

The biggest problem with teenagers being a part of a drinking culture is that drinking can interfere with our morals. People may have very strong morals sober, but alcohol can change these morals very quickly. 

This is just for abit of a laugh, but also worth thinking about. Adolescence is when we begin to think seriously about our morals, and so watching movies with terrible moral messages is probably not the best idea. Hopefully adolescence make their decisions about morals based on real life situations, rather than films. 

No way. I think sex education is extremely important in schools. If anything it put me off sex after watching a very graphic birth video. It lets teenagers know of the risks, and warns them that it isn't just all fun and games.

This picture is very relevent to this weeks topic of sexuality as it explores sexual orientation equality. Lots of teenagers go through a time where they are unsure of their sexual orientation, but they aren't allowed to explore it because of the fear of being judged or unaccepted. I think it is great that New Zealand has made gay marriage legal, because it is one step closer to New Zealand being completely comfortable with gay people, which is what they deserve. 

I would like to combine this weeks topic of sexuality, back to the idea of egocentrism. I think the reason for teenage pregnancy's is because of the fact they simply don't think it will happen to them. Because of this people are less careful with something that could just as easily happen to them. Most adolescent girls know about contraception, and so I don't think lack of sex education is the problem. Instead we need to realise that things can happen to us, and be prepared for the worst. 

I actually love this quote. It's beginning to become more normal for a baby girl to wear "boy colours" and play with "boy toys," but if you dress your baby boy in pink then you get horrified looks. Girls can go throw their brother or boyfriends t-shirt on, but if a boy did that he would get called all sorts of homophobic names. Double standards I reckon.