All of our parents, guardians and carers are either parents of teenagers now, or you will be! In about a month, I will be the father of four teenagers, when my youngest turns 13.  Raising teenagers is quite a journey and at times very challenging. You might ask yourself what happened to that sweet child just a couple of years ago? I’m sure he or she is still there, but usually, the teenage years see a transformation and some of it can keep parents and schools on their toes!

Teenagers have several significant challenges, including the biological changes of puberty which are not limited to the body but include the chemical impacts of the additional hormones on the brain. Mental health challenges often start to emerge, especially anxiety. The part of the brain where emotions are governed is the limbic system. The connections between the limbic system and prefrontal cortex are responsible for the regulation of emotion and are still developing and are in a state of flux during the teenage years. The connections continue to strengthen right through to an individual’s early 20s. The fact that the brain is still developing in these ways during the teenage years means that anxiety, depression and challenging behaviours are more likely.

Add to this the ever-increasing expectations of schoolwork as well as increasing expectations at home and the very difficult social terrain of teenager life to make sense of. There is also post school life on the horizon and creeping ever closer with very big decisions to make – career, where to live, part-time jobs, relationships and so forth to navigate. Given that the knowledge, skills and values needed to cope and steer through all of these challenges are still developing, it is no wonder that anxiety is so prevalent amongst teenagers.

Considering the challenges of teenager life and the rates of anxiety and depression, it makes sense that a well-rounded, holistic education should include a focus on knowledge and physical wellbeing. As well as the development of the body and the mind, a good education needs to also focus on the big questions of meaning and purpose. We live in an age where objective values are questioned and there is a focus on creating one’s own values. You have chosen to send your child(ren) to a Catholic College and where we have a particular emphasis on faith, compassion, kindness, justice, forgiveness and mercy. I think that this helps to provide a framework for making sense of the challenges of life, not just the teenage years. I heard Brene Brown say one time that teenagers put on armour to help them through these very challenging years. This might manifest in sharpness in communication, or using humour to deflect, taking on certain ways of dressing and hairstyles and so forth. Brown goes on to say that the armour that we put on as teenagers may no longer help as we get older and become a hindrance – a task of middle age is to shed the armour.

As a Principal, I probably should now have some words of wisdom about supporting teenagers. Despite having taught and worked with thousands of teenagers, I find it very hard for myself as a parent some days. I guess we can only continue to love our children as best we can. We were all teenagers once and had the same challenges. When parents have been complaining about their teenagers to me, I’ve occasionally asked what they were like as a teenager. The answer is usually “oh, much worse!” One thing my experience has taught me is that 99% of teenagers turn out to be fine young men and women in the longer run.