Tyler R. Perry
For the Advertiser
CASS CITY — “This, too, shall pass.”
This was Kenneth Horn’s message of hope for parents of teens at his Saturday seminar, “Understanding the Mysteries of the Teenage Brain.” Attended by about 50 people, the event was hosted by the health departments of Tuscola and Huron counties.
As a father, former school principal, and expert in childhood learning disabilities, Kenneth Horn is no stranger to the teenage brain. As a consultant and adjunct professor at Lakeview Educational Consulting, Horn offers a message of hope and understanding to those struggling to understand their teenager.
“Teenagers do make bad decisions, and they’re pretty good at it,” Horn says. While teens must be held accountable for their actions, Horn credits part of their deficient decision-making skills with the “rollercoaster” of biological changes occurring in their bodies, especially their brains.
According to Horn, the time it takes a person’s brain to become “adult” is different for each gender and varies from person to person. The adult female brain is typically developed by age 25, but sometimes is not developed
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until age 40. The male brain can be fully developed as early as 22, or as late as 30 – the average age being about 27. These statistics can be drastically altered, however, if trauma, either physical or emotional, is involved.
“There are three main areas of the teen brain that are struggling to grow, interact, connect and develop during the teen years,” Horn says. “The first part of the brain to go [during the teen years] is the thalamus, which sorts sensory input and helps sort reality from fantasy.”
This part of the brain causes teens to need and desire physical contact. Horn encourages parents to make sure this need is being met. “If they aren’t getting it at home, they’ll get it from places that may not be so appropriate.”
Second on the list of developing areas is the hypothalamus, which “is a primitive part of the brain that drives behavior and emotions”. According to Horn, the hypothalamus controls emotions, including fear, love, aggression, and anger. This part of the brain is greatly “impacted by cultural experiences and the endocrine system, which is ruled by hormones”.
The third main area, the amygdala, is responsible for “regulating our ability to go between emotions and logic when thinking and processing”, says Horn. Think of it as “the gatekeeper in charge of helping us balance our social, emotional, and logical thinking skills.”
Horn says it is vitally important to find ways to connect to teenagers. “Learn how and when to talk with your teen…It could be driving in a car, doing physical activity, etc. Teens need to have a safety net, and it needs to be you.”
For Horn, emotional intelligence is the key term for the developing teenage brain. “Emotional intelligence is developed by lots and lots of face-to-face communication”, which is largely derived from interaction with family and friends. “The lack of these experiences leads to emotional atrophy and emotional immaturity,” Horn says.
In addition, Horn reminds parents that the teen years are difficult for the teens themselves to navigate, too. “Being a teenager is an emotional rollercoaster. Teen girls go through 8 to 12 ‘hormone surges’ per day, while boys go through 12 to 14 per day.”
“It’s a journey”, he says. Teens like to float “trial balloons by saying things that are reaction-seeking, emotionally loaded, argumentative, and by using ‘loaded language’.” The goal of teens is to “flush out [their] own beliefs to discover what [they] really think. With guidance, teens will come back to the core beliefs modeled for them as children,” Horn says. “Understand that teens are questioning and challenging values and beliefs in order to establish self-autonomy and their own belief system.”
So, what is a parent to do during this “journey?” According to Horn, providing guidance is their primary role. “Lovingly and respectfully facilitate the exploration of the ‘trial balloons’, using phrases like “Help me understand”, calmly processing and questioning” what is being said.
With appropriate parental guidance, Horn says, “teens will feel empowered and respected, that they can make a difference, unconditional love, self-efficacy and — autonomy, hopeful, and equipped for the future!”
Of the tumultuous teen years, Horn encourages parents, “This, too, shall pass.”