The path through adolescence is paved with changes. Along with the physical, social, and psychological changes, the education system changes for your t(w)eens. By extension, this means that things will change for parents, too. Once past elementary school, the schoolwork changes not only in difficulty, but volume as well. T(w)eens each have their own ways to adapt to this additional stress.
Warning: Science Ahead
The human brain takes about 25 years to fully develop, although it reaches about 90% of it’s maximum size by the age of six. Most head growth after this time is actually the thickening of the skull, not the expansion of the brain. Changes starting at about age twelve explain many t(w)een behaviors. At this time, the brain begins a massive rewiring project, starting near the brain stem (the area of the brain that regulates most body functions responsible for living, such as breathing and blood circulation) and moving toward the prefrontal cortex (the front area of the brain responsible for decision making and risk evaluation). Not surprisingly, areas that become rewired first tend to function better earlier than areas that are rewired later during the process.
