When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of two things: 1) the awesome traditional meal that I look forward to all year and 2) how people travel great distances to join their families in celebration--for better or worse.
Whether your family gathering for Thanksgiving is joyous or a source of dread all year long, it is inevitably a study in interpersonal dynamics. And this intense period of togetherness with your child and the rest of the family just might be the scenario that makes you thoroughly aware of how different today's teens are from those of any generation past.
It's not just the grumpy, age-old "What's wrong with kids today?" thing. They truly are the products of growing up in a very different world than what their predecessors experienced, and when you look at them from that perspective, their differences actually make sense.
In an effort to shed light on some of the fundamental changes in adolescent life, I offer you this article by Ron Taffel, Ph.D., chairman of the board of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York. The first half is full of pertinent, thought-provoking information for parents while the second half approaches the subject from a therapeutic perspective.
The Divided Self: Inside the World of 21st Century Teens
Enjoy, and I wish you the best Thanksgiving possible!
