Question

FORUM DESCRIPTION

More thoughts about Adolescence...

To continue with the adolescent years, I paraphrase a quote from Mark Twain for your thoughts...

When I was thirteen I wondered how my father (you can insert mother) knew so little...by the time I was twenty I was surprised to see how much he had learnt.

what this means explain

Answer 1

The year of the adolescent is the transitional period from childhood to adulthood. It starts from 12 to 19 or 20 years. As per WHO the children are attaining puberty earlier compared to the previous generations. WHO (World Health Organization) takes adolescents starting from 10-19 years.

This period is the most turmoil years of a child the girls and boys find physical, emotional and psychological changes. The pituitary glands release puberty hormones luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in the bloodstream that brings changes in physical appearance. The body hair grows the development of breasts in girls and menstruation cycle starts. The girls and boys experience a spurt in their height.

The brain chemical changes due to the release of the hormones. The adolescent becomes impulsive and acts without thinking about the consequences. Their priorities with life changes. They become more conscious about their appearance and get attracted to peer and opposite sex, to fulfill their desires.

At this age, they want independence from their parents but they are dependent on them for economic support until they are adults.

There is an increase in the conflict between the parents and the child, and as per the quote of Mark Twain, "When I was thirteen I wondered how my father knew so little...by the time I was twenty I was surprised to see how much he had learned" .The child thinks that the father is ignorant.

This shows the confusion of the child and his conflict with the father, because he is in the stage of taking impulsive actions, and risk as they like challenges. The father is experienced and he knows the child steps are in the right direction or he is influenced by the wrong peer group. The child thinks the father is ignorant and old fashioned, his thoughts and morals are different and they are not acceptable, thus he feels the father’s decisions are not acceptable.

When the author reaches adulthood about 20 or 22 years old he realizes that he was wrong, and how much he had learned from his mistakes and experiences are the same that his father used to tell him from his experiences about what is good and what is bad.

That means the father’s experiences are more than a child’s experiences, and the right decision can be taken from looking at the outcome of those experiences. Thus the author was wrong thinking that father is ignorant. This shows the generation gap.