If you are one who would like to re-do them – AS THEY WERE – please please add a comment and tell us why.

The years where your age ends in "teen" are given different labels by different theorists; labels like adolescence, pre-adult, puberty, and one I like – "normal psychosis."

No matter what it is called, we as a species need to evolve through those 7 years.  Not that 12 and 20 are always so great but we don't tend to put kids that age into the category teen.  [By the way, I usually say "kid." It's a habit from way back when I first started studying psychology.]

The teen years tend to be ushered in by hormonal changes – which in turn lead to physical changes and all of this is accompanied by emotional, cognitive and social change.  Just like with 2- and 3-year-olds coping with an awful lot of changes – a teen seeks a variety of ways to deal with what is going on in their body.  A major difference is that 2 and 3-year-olds are still under parental control while teens are not- or not as much as we as parents would like.  They are in school, they often travel there and elsewhere without the car pool or parent.  They learn to drive – and like it or not – they experiment with "things."

"Things" can include not only drugs, alcohol and sex; it can include personality, academic interests, and sports.  It's a period where the once "child" is learning "who am I"  and "what do I want me to be."

This self-learning can lead to sudden mood and personality shifts – some intentional, some probably hormonal –  it's why I say about having a teen in the house:   Welcome to "normal psychosis." 

This is life with a teen … and I'll be writing more about this – so please comment and let me know what you'd like to see here.