Physical and Psychosocial Development of Adolescent Students

This week we had the opportunity to learn about the different changes that adolescents face during this phase of life. When I think about my own adolescence, I realize that it was not so shocking for me because, luckily, I was very well informed about the things that would happen to me, at least in a physical way.

Since I was a child, I have always been surrounded by older people, in other words I was always the youngest among my friends and relatives. Therefore, a lot of -good and not so good- information came to me about  what to expect during those years of my life. Because of this, I did not have any issues dealing with my physical development. On the other hand, when it comes to my psychosocial development, I did not know what to expect. In fact, I was not even aware I was going through that. During my childhood things were easy, I had everything I needed inside my family, my older brother and cousins were my best friends, and I was very dependent of my mother. However, when I entered adolescence I did not feel that comfortable with them anymore, but I did not want to be alone either, so I started to make more friends to the point that I felt more comfortable with my friends than with my own relatives. Besides that, I also think that at some point I struggled a little with my own identity. I realized that I was just following my own brother's steps, trying to imitate him somehow, and I did not felt that I was being myself. At the end, I think I was able to find my own identity, and up to this point of my life, I feel really comforta
ble with who I am.

After studying the different things that happen during adolescence, now I understand why teenagers feel misunderstood most of the time. In my opinion, the main reason is that they do not understand themselves, and they do not know what is happening in their bodies and minds. Adolescence can be a contradictory stage. They want to be independent, but they do not want responsibilities; they want to fit and be accepted by society, but they want to feel unique and special; they do not want to be attached to their parents anymore, but they are afraid to face the world on their own. However, they are not guilty of this, is just that they are going trough hormonal changes which affect their moods and behaviors. I believe that parents and adults in general should be informed about this, to be able to take care of them by warning them about the threats of life without interfering with their freedom. Also, adults should thy to empathize a little bit more adolescents, since this stage of life can be difficult and shocking.

As a teacher, I would like to help my students by being a guidance in this stage of life, by making them feel comfortable with themselves and others, by increasing their level of confidence, and by encouraging them to be themselves, and by motivating them to have a goal in life and to stay focused on it.