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

Teen anger is not just about behavioral outrage. Some teenagers have problems expressing. They usually suppress their anger and then withdraw. However, most of the time, teen kids who become defiant and very aggressive. They even have the tendency to destroy property. Parents should remember that, teenage anger is more of a feeling or emotion rather than a behavior.

However, there is a positive side of expressed anger. It means that there is an apparent problem with your child. And you know that, teenagers face identity, purpose, questions, relationships and separation.

This anger could be a sign of:

> Depression
> Abuse
> Anxiety
> Grief
> Trauma
> Alcohol or substance abuse

Adventure is part of any wilderness program. Adventure could be a very successful therapy. In fact, it is a separate therapeutic process that has been around for 40 years. The goal of such a therapy is to improve self-esteem and self-concept. It also help to correct both personal and social behavior.

Adventure therapy is the establishment of challenge in a safe environment through series of outdoor activities for groups in order to promote psychological treatment as well as education. Also, the therapeutic process has different techniques and settings to achieve change.

Violence is basically a learned behavior. So, you should know that if teenagers become aggressive in an abnormal way, there could be a reason. They might have got it from friends, neighbors and even from other family members. Unfortunately, such behaviors are reinforced by what kids see on the Internet, TV, movies, video games and music.

Parents should be careful about punishments. Some kids don’t see it as a constructive or corrective measure. Thus, when they are physically or verbally abuse at home, there is a great possibility that they could behave violently.

Self-mutilation has been popular with kids. It’s not a good news especially with the “emo” thing going on. Teenagers hurt themselves for a reason or two. They cut, bite, hit and even bruise themselves. These teenagers lack the capacity to deal with the pain. Instead of really confronting their personal issues, they resort to a much drastic action. It even pains parents more seeing their kids hurt themselves.  Thus, parents should get professional help, like an intervention from a psychologist or psychiatrist.