Emily Chan
The twists and turns of navigating young adulthood are not to be downplayed. Young teenagers experience monumental shifts at this stage in their lives.
Everything is changing–their bodies, their way of thinking, the way they’re now viewed by society–and it can be super stressful to deal with. Each of these factors can play a role in why your teen seems to be growing moodier by the minute.
Dr. Lucie Hemmen (@dr.luciehemmen) is providing some insight on TikTok to parents of young teens. She explains why this age group is so hard to handle and even touches on how parents should respond to moodiness.
In the video, Dr. Hemmen shared a conversation she had with a therapist who’s new to working with teenagers.
The therapist was talking to Dr. Hemmen about some concerns she had about a teen who didn’t seem very self-aware.
“She was concerned because the teenager wasn’t showing much insight and had a lot of trouble self-reflecting and was basically blaming everything going on in her life on her parents and everyone else,” Dr. Hemmen recalled.
Without the therapist even needing to disclose the teen’s age, Dr. Hemmen knew immediately how old the child was.
She believed the client was under the age of fourteen, and the therapist confirmed her hunch with surprise. How did Dr. Hemmen guess the client’s age so easily?
Well, when a teen displays a lack of insight and self-reflection, that is part of the developmental stage that teenagers go through. It is by no means a lack of intelligence or an attitude problem.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
