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  Why adolescents are more vulnerable to drug abuse, Alcohol consumption, and smoking. Currently in India  more youngsters discover themselves addicted to drugs than ever before . In 2018, 27% of 8th to 12th graders used an illicit drug. 29% used drugs and suffered depressive episodes. Indians are increasingly hitting the bottle at a young age or shooting narcotics up their nostrils and blood vessels, replacing the puffs of cigarette smoke that gave them a high about a decade ago. Teen substance abuse is problematic for several reasons. Teens are still developing important life skills, their identity, likes and dislikes. If teens begin experimenting with drugs to fit in or gain friends, they can unknowingly set themselves up for a potentially life – threatening habit, making prevention critical. For many youngsters , rewards are chosen before consequences are considered. Imagine, at an age when kids are usually obsessed with Enid Blyton novels or the latest show on Cartoon Networ

  What are the issues faced by today’s teenagers? Only a few decades ago, the most common problems teens faced were finding a career path and starting a family. In fact, the word  “ teenager” wasn’t even a thing until the 1920s. Today, however, teens are facing problems unique to our time. Teenagers face real concerns between 13 and 19 years of age, on a daily basis as this is the most awkward growth stage of their lives. During this time, teens are exposed to some overwhelming external and internal struggles. They are expected to cope with hormonal changes, puberty, social and parental forces, work and school pressures, and feeling of misunderstood. When I see parents of teenagers at my clinic the conversation is mainly complaints about raising teenagers and managing their tantrums. What we need is a paradigm shift of who our teens are and a clearer view of our role as parents. 1. Acceptance Even the most self-assured person struggles with acceptance from time to time. Howeve

  Teenagers should be offered guidelines rather than rules. As a child gradually evolves from a dependent toddler to an independent teenager it is looking forward to more and more independent decision, and if successful it helps building his self-esteem.  During early childhood, parents have guided and supported their children through ever small and big achievements. However, as they grow older and their horizons expand s, they like to take control of their life, as a result they often tend to ignore their parent’s advice. Parents sometimes fail to understand the sudden change in their behavior. They now start feeling that their teenager has gone astray and will be good for nothing. With the onset of puberty, teenagers feel that they have outgrown their younger friends who are still playing childhood games and obeying their parent’s wishes. Adolescent’s attempt to seek independence from parents which sometimes creates confusion between their relationships, as society and members of th

  Teach Kids to eat right, why do teens put on weight easily? Globally, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen dramatically amongst  children aged 5–19 years, since 1975. The childhood obesity epidemic has become a  serious public health problem in many countries worldwide and it is a major public  health challenge of the 21st century. As obesity in childhood is known to track into  adulthood, early intervention is critical. In the first 2 years of life—when learning is constantly taking place—food preferences are also forming. Most are learned, but some are innate. A child's food preferences directly affect eating behavior, which in turn is linked to overall health, wellness, and the formation of obesity. Children are more likely to interpret marketing as factual. For example, young children in the ‘pre-cognition’ stage of cognitive defense are unable to differentiate television advertising and television programmed content. Obesity is arguably a natural response to

  Sensory Processing Dysfunction and Sensory Integration     Every day we receive a great deal of information from all our senses. All these  information merge with each other to give meaning to the things in environment  around us. Merging of sensory inputs is known as Sensory Integration (SI). It helps  us  in organizing  our behavior  to successfully interact in the world. SI begins in the womb as the fetal brain senses the movements of the mother’s body. The genes of the human species gives every child baseline capacity, child interacts with many things in the environment and develops adaptive responses to stimuli. Until about the age of seven, the brain is primarily a sensory processing machine. As the child grows older, mental and social responses replace some of this sensory-motor activity. Our senses give us information about the physical condition of our body and the environment around us. Think of senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. The organs those are responsib