Prutha Goa

By Maya Lin Noronha (Counsellor) Children spend a considerable amount of time (about 14 years) of their young lives in school. Therefore, it is important to understand the environment in which they learn. The school system includes children, parents, teachers, community and school administration of which teachers and students are the two major players. A school environment conducive to learning, helping a child make a smooth adjustment to the system and bringing about the all-round personality and mental development of the child, is the need of the hour in this time and age. Young adolescents need a nurturing and secure environment at school, accompanied by adult guidance. If problems are not prevented in these years, there may be significant social consequences. As they move into middle-grade, students experience school competition, social comparison, and self-assessment. The school emphasis on discipline and teacher control, and its limited opportunities for student decision making,

By Maya Lin Noronha 'Don’t tell me you’re going to college dressed like this.’ ‘Yes! Why?’ 'There is no way you are stepping out of this house wearing such a cleavage revealing top!’ 'What’s wrong with it?! All my friends dress like this. Stop being so old fashioned!’ 'I don’t care about how everybody else dresses up. You are my child and you will dress modestly. Go and change right now!!’ 'Just because you dress like a relic from the Dark Ages, don’t expect me to follow suit!’ A conversation like this is enough to suggest the presence of a teenager in the home. You can blame it on the turmoil of hormones, peer pressure or anything else but the adolescent years spell a period of emotional tumult and chaos for both parents as well as teenagers. Theirs is a different world and unravelling the mystery of adolescent angst poses a mighty challenge to most parents. Stepping in tune with your resident teen can be the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest. In the 21st Century