What is truancy? It is just a sophisticated term for “skipping school.” Some kids just could not wait for the last period to end.

How to prevent a teenager from truanting?

- Have a positive approach to school. Never tell your kids about going there each day, being on time and homework.

- Inform the school if your child need to skim school because of an illness.

- Ask the school in advance if you need your teenager to have a day off for a special occasion.

- Schedule vacations outside the school calendar, especially during exams.

- Always become interested on your kids’ schoolwork. Be supportive.

Getting teenagers to bed at a certain hour is one thing. Expecting them to be at home is another. Staying out late has always been a common argument point between parents and teenagers. Of course, adults feel at ease if their kids are already at home at a reasonable hour. However, parents should know that it is very essential for teenagers that they could make decisions for themselves, like what is safe or not.

Compromise is the key that is coupled with honesty and trust. Rules should be laid out clearly. Make sure that the kids are also part of establishing the boundaries. Don’t forget the punishment when they fail.

Normally, teenagers tend to copy other kids, particularly what they see on TV. Clothes, music, and even expressions. Most of the time, this makes it hard for parents to accept or to say something about the changes with their teenagers. Peer pressure becomes very apparent when they emphasize that their friends are more important more than anything else. But, the real issue about this matter is when kids come across bad influences.

As children reach adolescence, they not only change physically but also psychologically. They learn to think more on their own. They usually start to fit themselves into the society. For instance, they have their own opinion on the rules and current issues. In short, they become more independent in so many ways. Thus, they strongly value what others think about them, such as friends and anybody outside the home.

As much as possible parents should remind their kids not to smoke. Also, parents should not smoke, set an example and avoid the 35% risk factor for non-smokers. Take note that most smokers’ children are prone to bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. Maybe teenagers would be convinced on the effects of smoking to their health. Perhaps cancer would scare them or so. They should also avoid places and people who are into smoking. Tell them that chronic tobacco exposure reduces airway function. It somehow equals to one to ten cigarettes a day.

More and more teenagers are now smoking. So why do they smoke in the first place? Actually, there are four common reasons if you ask the kids, although they won’t really tell you:

1. Image projection – Most of the boys think that smoking means a projection of fun, coolness and individualism. For girls, it would mean desirability and sexiness.

2. Peer pressure – When their friends smoke, they also smoke for the mere reason that they want to stay in the group, and maintain that certain acceptance.

3. Rebellion – Some teenagers smoke because they want to annoy parents and other adults. Perhaps they want to be noticed. Some want independence for that matter.

4. Adult aspiration – There are teenagers who believe that smoking gives them a sense of being an adult. Also, when

Cutting may be the most common way of self-injury, but there are a lot of types such as the following:

• Piercing the skin with sharp objects
• Head banging
• Burning
• Poisoning or overdosing
• Scratching
• Pulling out hair
• Interfering with wound healing
• Pinching
• Biting
• Carving words or symbols on the skin
• Breaking bones
• Hitting or punching

Take note that self-injury is not a suicide attempt The kid does not necessarily intend to kill one’s self, but instead cause harm to the body.

Cutting takes a whole different meaning when teenagers associate it with emotional pain. Cutting has been a way to stop their so-called unbearable issues. It is actually self-injury, which results from invalidation. Perhaps kids are made to believe that their interpretation of feelings is wrong or bad. In short, they are not allowed to feel that way so they have to punish themselves by cutting. Most of the time, their parents, guardians or any family members have formerly severely punished them for expression of such feelings and thoughts.

When anxiety in teenagers strikes, it is more likely caused by genetics and the environment, particularly the one they had as children. Thus, such as a condition usually result to depression. Anxiety usually brought about by several stress factors like:

- Neglect of parents
- No emotional support from parents
- Academic expectations
- Family responsibility
- Tension at home

Teenage sadness may eventually lead to depression. Though feeling sad is quiet normal, when the emotion seems to be there for an extended period (like months), this could be a very dangerous condition. So how to tell if your teenager is having a kind of sadness you and everybody in the family wants to avoid? Here are the symptoms:

- Difficulty sleeping
- Sad mood
- Loss of energy
- Having a hard time focusing
- Isolation from other kids
- Neglect of physical appearance, especially in clothing
- Thoughts of suicide