Young Age Teenagers And Pre Teens example essay topic

"Young people will find a way to meet their needs... even if this means moving in directions that are not approved of by family and / or community. Whether or how young people meet their needs depends in large part on the strength and direction of influences and opportunities in their lives". -Youth Development Institute Youth mentoring is one of the most under utilized tools in America for the successful development of intelligent and prosperous young men and women. Young people today need multi-dimensional care in order to successfully mature into well rounded individuals. Unfortunately, a majority of youth today are not receiving the attention they need in order to reach their full potential (Boyle 1). Without proper guidance, these youth are participating in high levels of at risk behaviors, such as substance abuse and violence.

When faced with difficult situations, it is easy for a young person to make poor choices. A youth mentor provides an extra outlet for these adolescents when a parent, sibling, or friend is not available, or even able to make the best choices for the adolescent. Youth mentoring is needed now more than ever. The multi-faceted needs of an adolescent are almost more complex than that of an adult. At such a young age teenagers and pre-teens are trying to understand right from wrong, learning how to take care of themselves, discovering who they are and establishing values. It is necessary for youth to have a strong and stable support system while growing up.

Traditionally, parents are expected to fill this role. Today, however, that is not always the case. The divorce rate in the United States is soaring. Accordingly, as the divorce rate increases, so does the number of single parents. When marriages end, and divorce papers are signed, changes have to be made. One larger household is replaced by two smaller households.

Instead of one set of bills, there are two. Visitation rights replace family time. Countless adjustments are inevitable. This type of situation brings about confusion, disappointment, and despair in the lives of young people. With such a high percentage of teen pregnancies, consequently there is an elevated number of young mothers. When a mother is at a young age when she bears a child, it is exceedingly complicated to appropriately take care of the child while at the same time caring for herself.

Teenage moms generally want to finish high school or attend college, spend time hanging out with friends, or work in order to provide for themselves and their babies. Teenage mothers who do not fully understand the responsibility of taking care of a baby are oftentimes shocked when they find they can no longer finish school or even work a sufficient amount of hours to pay the bills. Divorce rate is escalating. Teenage mothers are abundant.

Single and uninformed mothers and fathers cannot properly take on a job, house and car payments, grocery shopping, parent teacher association, doctors appointments, after-school activities, carpool, and packed lunches, and adequately care for three kids. It is next to impossible. Thirty percent of children in American live in a household with only one parent (Young Life 1). Several parents are left with their hands too full to adequately care for their own children on all levels. Total wellness on all levels encompasses physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental well being. Optimal physical health requires eating well, exercising, avoiding harmful habits, making responsible decisions about sex, learning about and recognizing the symptoms of disease, getting regular medical check-ups, and taking steps to prevent injuries.

Trust, self-esteem, optimism, self-acceptance, self-control, self-confidence, satisfying relationships, and an ability to share feelings are just some of the qualities and aspects of emotional wellness. The hallmarks of intellectual health include an openness to new ideas, an aptitude to question and think critically, and the enthusiasm to master new skills, as well as a sense of humor, creativity, and curiosity. To possess spiritual health is to enjoy a set of guiding beliefs, principles, of values that give meaning and purpose to your life, particularly during difficult times. Social wellness simply means the ability to have satisfying relationships. Environmental wellness is not as easily stated, though generally understood as the health of the planet. This expands to each individual, concerning an array of environments each person encounters on a regular basis.

This encompasses the city and state, neighborhood, school, place of work, and many others. All of the mentioned factors are in some way needed for optimal wellness. It is not surprising or even completely expected, that a parent or parents provide their children with every aspect of these ideas. New information continues to surface regarding destructive behaviors and the youth of America.

More and more adolescents are using drugs and other harmful chemicals, drinking alcohol, having unprotected sex, carrying weapons, and committing suicide. This is not only unacceptable, but it is frightening. Most sixteen year olds receive their license, and feel as if they are on top of the world. They are young. They have so much to live for.

Despondently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finds that the leading cause of death among youth between the ages of fifteen and twenty is motor vehicle crashes (SADD 2). This pertains to destructive decisions because almost forty percent of these fatal crashes were alcohol related (SADD 2). Today, although alcohol is only illegal for anyone under twenty-one, and marijuana, cocaine, and other controlled substances are illegal at any age, drugs such as these are found with ease. In 2004, 51.1% of twelfth graders reported having used an illicit drug in their lifetime (NIDA 3). However, some come in contact with these drugs as early as elementary school. A larger proportion not only comes in contact with drugs and alcohol, but experiment with drugs and alcohol, in middle school.

It is somewhat rare for a high school teenager to have never seen or tried one of these substances. More than five million high school aged youth binge drink at lease once a month (SADD 1). Consumption of alcohol reduces activity in the central nervous system. Drinking alcohol impairs decisions and fine motor coordination, thus causing an abundance of possible predicaments to arise. Violence in schools is becoming more prominent than ever. Violence has been seen on many different levels, and has been seen at a very young age.

Schools are now becoming stricter with policies in order to ensure the safety of the students. Violence can initiate with hateful words, progress with shoving or hitting, and end with shooting and killing. Homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds overall (SADD 4). Years ago, it was almost unreal to hear of the horrific school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. It was bewildering and horrifying, many never believed something like that could happen. Though it was the nation's deadliest school shooting, Columbine was not the first, nor last.

Schools have begun to place metal detectors in the doorways, and are partaking in more random locker searches for drugs and weapons. It is alarming to find that teens are becoming so frightened by their peers that 17.4% of students carry a weapon to school (SADD 4). This has not only affected the older generation of high school kids, but children in elementary schools. In February of 2000, six-year-old Kayla Rolland was a student at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Michigan. On February 29 she was shot dead by a six-year-old boy with a.

32 caliber handgun (Kidder 1). As the years go by, the suicide rate continues to increase. Young people today are at a point where they feel so alone, they feel they have no other choice but to terminate their life. In 2001, 19% of all high school students contemplated suicide (SADD 5). Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youths ages 15 to 20 (SADD 5). Teens are becoming less and less supervised by parents and responsible adults.

Many teens are participating in dangerous sexual activity. Nearly half of all teenagers have had sexual intercourse at least once. This is perilous because they are having unprotected sex; unprotected from contracting sexually transmitted diseases and al so from unwanted pregnancy. The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world (SADD 7). Nearly four in ten young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of twenty, or nearly one million a year (SADD 7). These unwanted pregnancies lead to physical and emotional turmoil.

In addition to that, an alarming number of sexually active teens become infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Every year, 3 million teens, approximately one in four sexually active teens, get an STD (SADD 8). Though some of these diseases are curable, many are not. This can leave teens with discomfort and embarrassment. With a decline in after school activities, many young people find themselves consumed in the world of media. Media embraces an abundance of new and exciting things.

These may include television, magazines, video games, internet, and movies. One way girls occupy themselves is with magazines and movies. While there are some publications that can be educational, the majority of what teens read is not. They portray models that epitomize perfection, and illustrate new ways to lose weight and wear make-up.

For young girls it is easy to believe the pictures displayed are of the ideal body or face. This can cause distorted body image, or fear of looking a way other than what is presented. It is easy for young girls to get the idea that dieting is necessary, and being thin and beautiful is all that matters. Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors (SADD 6). An astounding forty percent of fourth grade children divulged that they diet either "very often" or "sometimes" (SADD 6). This type of behavior should not be taking place in the fourth grade.

Boys are affected and influenced by the media just as often, only in different ways. Although these are disconcerting trends, there is emergent confidence that youth mentoring can, in various occurrences, facilitate young people in a positive direction; these mentoring programs aid youth to improve performance both academically and socially (Mentoring 4). These mentors are generally college age or older, and understand the huge need for intervention in the lives of young people. These mentors might have been influenced by their own mentor and want to share this life altering experience with someone else. On the other hand, another group of volunteers may wish they had been provided a mentor themselves. Mentoring can be described as a lasting, cherished, developmental relationship between an older, more experienced individual and a younger person, with the goal of building character and competence on the part of the prot " eg'e (Mentoring 4).

Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and most prevalent youth mentoring organization in America today. Big Brothers Big Sisters was founded in 1904 by a man named Ernest Coulter. It began as a way to befriend girls who came through the New York Children's Court. After a century of people dedicated and driven by the cause, Big Brothers Big Sisters now serves as an outlet of friendship and understanding for an abundance of youth. The mission "is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with measurable impact" ( SA). Big Brothers and Big Sisters are matched with a Little Brother or Little Sister and begin to slowly build a relationship with these young kids.

Big Brothers and Sisters oftentimes take their Littles out to eat dinner, to a movie at the mall, or to a sporting event. These and countless other activities provide fun for both, while providing a time for the pair to interact and get to know each other. Strong relationships are built, and the kids begin to trust their mentors. They ask for advice, and value the opinions of their Big Brother or Sister. This provides an outlet for youth to turn to when things seem oftentimes worse than they actually are. Young Life is yet another respectable and widespread mentoring program for youth.

Young Life began in 1941, and is another non-profit organization dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the lives of kids. Young Life leaders step outside of the common comfort zone of the adult world and take on the hectic and always changing spectrum of high school and middle school students. Young Life leaders will do anything to interact with kids. They carpool hyper teenagers to the movies, cheer on the sidelines of soccer games, hang out with kids at inner-city parks, or tutor students in a local library after school.

Young Life leaders are anywhere kids are. Young Life leaders model reverence, reliability, and trust to their high school and middle school friends, and they do it within a meaningful context. They do it in the context of a teenager's world. Young Life provides ways to have wholesome, imaginative fun and aims to keep kids safe. Weekly clubs are held to provide a place for kids to go, hang out with other kids, have fun, and laugh. Club normally meets once a week and has been expressed as an experience in "controlled chaos".

During club leaders bring forth a combination of student to student interaction, songs, and obviously humor to merge everything together. Young Life believes in time-tested practices that have been used for years. The idea is to go where kids will be going, love kids unconditionally, and earn the right to be heard in order to convey God's love in terms that kids can comprehend These organizations have proved, through time and research, that they do have an impact of the lives of young people. Research consistently shows that kids benefit from relationships with caring adults in addition to parents (DSHS 2). The most substantial corroboration was found by Public / Private Ventures showing that kids who have youth mentors are: 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip class, more confident in their schoolwork performance, and able to get along better with their families ( SA 1). Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Young Life alone are estimated to reach over 1.2 million young people a year.

They are both active in all 50 states and Young Life extends to more than 45 countries. Many organizations, including Young Life and Big Brothers Big Sisters offer an easily accessible youth mentor. Mentoring will never be superfluous. The involvement of the whole nation is necessary to gradually and continually improve and extend the lives of the youth of the United States.

Parents can help by encouraging their kids to find mentors, or finding mentors for them. Strong support is needed crucially by parents, in order to successfully mentor kids. College aged men and women can be extremely instrumental in aiding youth mentor programs. College aged adults are perfect for mentoring. It is critical for men and women of this age to realize the importance of these programs, and become a part of them. Men and women of any age can contribute to these programs even if it is impossible to give their time.

Donations keep these programs running and provide the possibility to make things happen. Youth mentoring is one of the most under utilized tools in America for the successful development of intelligent and prosperous young men and women. This must change.

Bibliography

Boyle, Patrick. "Mentoring Pays Off". Youth Today. 9 Jan. 2004.
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web 9 04. htmlKiddler, Rushworth M. "Consenting to Violence". Institute for Global Ethics. 6 March 2000.
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web "Kid Notes". Young Life. 7 Apr 2005.
web "Kids Never Forget a Mentor". Department of Social & Health Services. 8 Oct. 2004.
web "NIDA Info facts: High School and Youth Trends". National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dec. 2004.
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web "Mentoring in Schools". Creating Safe and Drug Free Schools. Sep 1996.
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web "Statistics". Students Against Destructive Decisions. 5 April 2005.
web "Vision and Mission". Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. 5 April 2005.