Small Changes To Teenage Behavior That Parents Should Expect

Growing up has its challenges. Your teenager will be facing new challenges every day, and you may begin to feel helpless as a parent. Most parents choose to focus on the noticeable physical changes; however, there will also be some hurdles in your teenager’s life that will drastically affect their behavior. 

There isn’t much that you can do to help with these difficulties. All you can do is prepare as best you can. So, let’s look at some of the small changes to your teenager’s behavior that you should expect.

Sleeping In

As your child hits a certain age, you will notice that they are spending a lot more time in bed. Most people attribute this teenage trait to pure laziness; however, there is a good reason for these extended lie-ins. The natural body clock for a teenager’s sleep cycle is between 3 am, and 11 am. It is during this time that they will receive their full R.E.M sleep. Unfortunately, this does not fit in with the average nine-to-five lifestyle of the average person.

Add to all of this the fact that your child needs more energy to grow, and you can understand just how tired they must be. Therefore, you shouldn’t be concerned if your teen wants a few extra hours of bed on the weekend. They clearly need the rest.

Mood Swings

The physical changes that occur during adolescence are only possible with a rapid change in the body’s hormone levels. These hormones dictate almost everything that your body does, including your thought processes and emotions.

As a result, these hormone fluctuations can result in drastic mood swings. Your teen may be calm and collected one minute but confused and irritable the next. What’s more, you may find that they are more argumentative during this period. There is no quick fix for dealing with teenage attitude. Just try to give them their space and appreciate all that they are going through. 

Body Image Concerns

While your teenager is growing rapidly, not everything tends to change in proportion. It takes a bit longer for certain hormones to kick in, which means that your teen may feel self-conscious about certain parts of their body. This is especially true when they are surrounded by other teens developing at a different rate.

Body image can be a sensitive issue for a lot of teens, and you may find that they shift between styles a lot to compensate for certain hang-ups. As a parent, you must let them make these changes and do whatever they feel is necessary to improve their self-esteem, within reason, of course.

Low-Self Esteem

As you can probably guess, all of the changes listed above are going to result in your teenager having pretty low self-esteem. They aren’t always in control of their emotions, they are tired all of the time, and they do not know who they are yet. 

The best thing you can do as a parent is there for them and provide a safe space where they can be themselves. As long as you know what to expect, you should be fine managing the changes that come during these teenage years.