But even as they are letting go of control, parents should know that adolescents need almost as much attention as any three-year old. Teenagers tend to jump into things they may not be emotionally prepared to jump into. They get scared. They need the family, and they need their independence at the same time. For them, the family represents safety, but it also represents confinement as they search for their own path in life.
Adolescence tends to be the time when young people have their first love relationship.
This may well be a source of great pleasure but early loves tend to be short-lived, and the pains and stresses of broken love relationships and of rebuffs and rivalries can be quite considerable. It is not only love relationships that bring a complex mixture of pain and happiness. Same sex-friendships also tend to become more intense over teenage years and change somewhat in quality. Childhood friendships tend to be focused on shared activities. During adolescence, there is a greater concern over reciprocity and loyalty, and over emotional sharing and exchange of confidences.