Teenage Problems/Expert Profile

Expertise

I have dealt with many young people in a teaching environment as well as in teaching young people at tennis clinics. Since younger people have seen so little of the world their view of the world should not be shaped by the confines of what happens within their family unit. Its natural to be shy about developing relationships outside the home but young people need to know the other person is also probably just as shy as they are. If you havea problem then remember you are in good company. There are no new problems. Someone else has also had the same problem. If you need ideas on how to handle them or some choices to consider feel free to ask. I will answer questions about moral issues and how to handle such issues when they come up in your life. Continue reading about the issue of bullies which can be physical, emotional or sexual as well as bullies who use the internet to spread stories about you. You do not have to be teenager to ask a question here on how to handle this. If you are a pre-teen or tween you may also ask a question here.

Experience in the area

I have taught children from 7th through 12th grade. It is all too common for young people to be shy or hesistate because they fear rejection from someone of the opposite sex. You do not have to be a teenager to ask a question here. If you are a pre-teen or "tween" as is commonly used now and are being "bullied" by someone and bullies can be other kids who hit you or as is becoming more common sexual bullying by name calling or spreading stories about you feel free to ask a question about what to do about it. There is also cyber bullying by people who may know you and there can be people who are pretending to be someone they are not who may insult you and try to destroy your self esteem. When you run into people who insult you its best to just block them and delete them or at the very least close down the messenger you are using. If anyone taunts you by calling you names or racial slurs or any slur that involves a persons sexual orientation you need to understand that the person doing that is trying to project their own questions about their own sexual orientation that they are questioning. This may sound complicated and it is. The people who are the most hateful in reality hate themselves and hate what they are desperately trying to convince themselves they are not (for example being gay or lesbian).

What do you like about this subject?

Helping kids to know that they have only experienced an extremely small part of the world. The best is yet to come. It is often less stressful to unburden yourself to someone you do not know.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

I hope to help kids of any age to gain more confidence and to learn to look out for their own interests in school, at work,or in dealing with boy-girl relationships. I hope to show teens that they are subject to feelings and desires that were not there just a few short years ago and how to deal with them.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

Whatever your problem is it is far from being uncommon. There is nothing new under the sun.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

Teens typically have questions about human sexuality and are often not informed correctly. Many teens cannot or will not talk to their parent(s) about these issues because it is awkward to do so. I will tell you the truth but I cannot advocate many of the things that teens do during this time period in their lives. That does not mean you will receive a sermon on morality, only advice.