Just caught the ending of movie “Never Been Kissed” again. News reporter-disguised-as-high school student Drew Barrymore says this to her actual high school classmates. “Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it.”
That sounds like great advice, but not so fast. Recently, my good friend,
Rich Melheim, called attention to this issue. “In her book ‘Primal Teen,’ Barbara Strauch, science editor from TIME, tells us that adolescents add about 20% more brain tissue in the judgment center of the brain (pre-frontal cortex).The problem is, they’ve got all the mass, but none of the connections. It doesn’t get all hooked up until they are -get this – about twenty-five!
The author concludes that parents must take on the role of master advisor: ‘You must become the pre frontal cortex for your teen.
The problem in our society is, of course, our kids hit 13 and we virtually abandon them. Draw a time line of raw time spent with kids on one end and years of age on the other and you’ll see the line bottoming out at the onset of adolescence.
We are leaving them to their own devices and judgment at the absolute worst moment.”
Who doesn’t think it’s a great ideal to have teenagers “discover” who they are and not be afraid of it?” Except that who they think they are could be the absolute worst scenario for them to base their life upon. If the evidence of the brain research is valid, who you think you are is not who you necessarily think you are in the first place.
This is another reason why I’m a Christian. It’s not who I think I am that is important. It’s who Jesus thinks I am (his beloved friend), and who he wants me to become, his obedient follower (John 14:15).
