While
moving to three school systems I thought of how the impact of all this has
effected my teen. I looked at the moves
as an opportunity as to see how the systems differed and what was offered and
how students were taught as well as aided to their specific needs.
Below is
what the professionals have to say:
Adolescence
put a tremendous amount of time and energy into finding just the right peer
groups.
The
process of reaching out to other teens and learning how to socialize consumes
an inordinate amount of their energy (and, when the phone bill comes, your
income). Through this laborious process of "fitting in" teens are
forming their own identity.
As
melodramatic as teenage angst my seem, ignoring or minimizing the real
difficulties that moving presents to teenagers only makes them worse. To help your teens make the transition as
smoothly as possible, parents have to know when and how to intervene and when
to back off.
To
Do's List:
- try to schedule relocation
around the academic calendar
- Before you leave try to
schedule not-to-distant future when your teen can return to visit.
- try to find out as much as
possible about your new hometown
- Make sure your teen as a many ways possible to access their old friends; phone, internet etc...
- get involved in the social community; church, extracurricular activity, youth sports
“Comments
about death or dying should never be taken casually”.
“Keep an
eye out for signs of depression-----or any behavioral changes”
