Adolescence marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. It consists of many stages and involves social, emotional, cognitive, mental and physical development. You can witness your child growing up from a young child to a full-grown adult.
There is a change in their character and personality as well as other traits. They learn to become more independent and responsible for their life. During adolescence, you observe many changes in your child’s behavior, mentality and attitude towards others.
Adolescence can be divided into three stages which consists of:
Early Adolescence:
This period consists of the pre-adolescence period in 10-13 years of children. They often start to grow rapidly, and physical changes are very significant. Usually at the age of 13 children attain puberty.
Breast development in girls and the enlargement of testicles in boys can be seen. It’s the stage of curiosity and inquisitiveness among children regarding their physical changes. It’s a new start for them.
Middle Adolescence:
The middle-adolescence period is seen in children who are between 14-17 years old. Most of them have hit puberty and a few of them attain it at this stage. The physical changes from puberty are significant.
They grow taller, gain weight, pubic hair grows and sexual organs develop. The brain also matures a lot at this stage and they tend to become more responsible. The need for privacy in their life increases.
Late Adolescence:
This period is seen in individuals who are 18 years old or beyond. Late adolescents have grown fully physically. They have grown to their maximum height. They have a stronger sense of individuality and independence as well as privacy in their life. They are much more responsible and mature.
Physical Development:
Most children hit puberty in between 13-14 years, which continues till their late teens. They have grown to their full height and their sexual organs have developed.
Females reach their full height whereas males tend to grow till their early twenties. Hormonal changes occur in them and children show signs of maturity.
Cognitive development:
Cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge and thinking rationally as well as making thoughtful decisions without acting impulsively. They think in more transformed, advanced, efficient and effective ways.
They try to make wise decisions, which won’t have any kind of negative consequences. They think before they act. They get a glimse of the reality and difficulties of life. The idea of a perfect life seems like a illusion to them.
They realize how the world works in practicality and tend to make decisions accordingly. They get better and innovative ideas and try to adopt ways to implement them. Children tend to think in an abstract manner and try to think about different possibilities.
They understand the world better and gain the ability to make decisions based on complete information instead of acting out irrationally. They get a feeling of independence and gain emotional maturity.
Their cognitive development consists of complex thinking processes, questioning societal norms and analysis of everything. During their late teens they start thinking about their career options as well and realize their ultimate goals in life.
Emotional Development:
Children undergo major emotional transition as well. They become more aware of their feelings and how different circumstances affect it. They tend to bring a change in their character and personality to facilitate their emotions well.
At this stage children become moody and their mood changes are unpredictable. They are in a state of conflict with others as well as themselves. They are more sensitive to how others perceive them and try to change accordingly.
They become more self-conscious especially regarding their physique and appearance. And because of this they develop low self-esteem. Children are now better at reading other’s emotions but sometimes might misinterpret it too.
The urge of privacy and independence is more, which leads to conflicts between parents and children. They want to spend more time with their friends rather than parents.
They dislike it when parents involve or intervene in their matters and wish for more space and freedom. They have a different point of view and wish to put their point in front of everyone.
Gradually they develop emotional maturity where they learn to handle and manage their emotions properly. They channelize their negative emotions into something positive to bring optimism as a whole.
Social Development:
As a part of social development, children transform themselves to fit into the world. They want to create an identity for themselves and want to stand out amongst a crowd.
They are ready to take more responsibility and step out. They are in the constant lookout for new experiences and challenges. They tend to take more risks and challenge themselves at each step.
Teenagers are more responsible towards their actions and the consequences they have on others. They act decisively and not impulsively. They get easily influenced by society especially friends under peer pressure.
They become more socially active and start communicating with everyone in the pretense of becoming popular and to “fit” in the society. They change themselves to be more acceptable to society. They venture out to form new relationships with others.
The physical, emotional, social and cognitive aspects of development are aspects of every individual’s growth. They play an important role in transforming a child into a responsible adult.
At this stage of development spending quality time with each individual child at home makes a huge difference in making them emotionally strong to make decisions.
Summary:
• Adolescence marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. It consists of many stages and involves social, emotional, cognitive, mental and physical development.
• During adolescence you observe many changes in your child’s behavior, mentality and attitude towards others.
• Cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge and thinking rationally as well as making thoughtful decisions without acting impulsively. They think in more transformed, advanced, efficient and effective ways.
• Children undergo a major emotional transition as well. They become more aware of their feelings and how different circumstances affect it. They tend to bring a change in their character and personality to facilitate their emotions well.
• As a part of social development children transform themselves to fit into the world. They want to create an identity for themselves and want to stand out amongst a crowd.
• There is a change in character and personality as well as other traits. They learn to become more independent and responsible towards their life.
