February2019

Impact Teenagers by Speaking Life

I have a confession: If I had to choose one audience to write for – adults or teenagers – I would choose teenagers.

Why? Because they’re easier to influence. They are moldable in ways that adults are not.

I first discovered this while writing an article on teen depression. At the time I was blogging for parents, but during my interview with the doctor, she made a remark that stirred in me a desire to help a younger audience.

“The reason I love working with children and teenagers,” she said, “is because they’re so resilient. You can change the whole trajectory of their life. Early intervention is key. It’s a lot easier to intervene effectively when they’re young instead of years later, when they’ve been depressed so long the illness becomes incorporated into part of their identity.”

In short, adults are hard to change. We are more set in our ways, our beliefs, and our mindsets. Children, on the other hand, are still forming their identities and mindsets. They are what parenting expert Haim Ginott once called “wet cement.”

“Children are like wet cement,” he said. “Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”

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