Limbo refers to the period of teenage years, which is a time of unavoidable mental and physical transition from childhood to adulthood. During this period, pruning of neurons in the brain occurs, establishing lifelong neural pathways. Teenagers experience changes in their bodies, feelings of attraction, and seek more freedom and independence from their parents through individuation, while also navigating new risks. By ages 12-15, teenagers experience the greatest biologically-driven changes but also potential for development. How parents support their teens through this period of disequilibrium greatly impacts the child's trajectory into adulthood.
Limbo refers to the period of teenage years, which is a time of unavoidable mental and physical transition from childhood to adulthood. During this period, pruning of neurons in the brain occurs, establishing lifelong neural pathways. Teenagers experience changes in their bodies, feelings of attraction, and seek more freedom and independence from their parents through individuation, while also navigating new risks. By ages 12-15, teenagers experience the greatest biologically-driven changes but also potential for development. How parents support their teens through this period of disequilibrium greatly impacts the child's trajectory into adulthood.
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48. Ekoparna Datta Ray, Board Project for English Language.
Limbo refers to the period of teenage years, which is a time of unavoidable mental and physical transition from childhood to adulthood. During this period, pruning of neurons in the brain occurs, establishing lifelong neural pathways. Teenagers experience changes in their bodies, feelings of attraction, and seek more freedom and independence from their parents through individuation, while also navigating new risks. By ages 12-15, teenagers experience the greatest biologically-driven changes but also potential for development. How parents support their teens through this period of disequilibrium greatly impacts the child's trajectory into adulthood.
Limbo refers to the period of teenage years, which is a time of unavoidable mental and physical transition from childhood to adulthood. During this period, pruning of neurons in the brain occurs, establishing lifelong neural pathways. Teenagers experience changes in their bodies, feelings of attraction, and seek more freedom and independence from their parents through individuation, while also navigating new risks. By ages 12-15, teenagers experience the greatest biologically-driven changes but also potential for development. How parents support their teens through this period of disequilibrium greatly impacts the child's trajectory into adulthood.
Adulthood, a process of growing up Ekoparna Datta Ray XII-F Roll no.:48 ‘Is this real life, is this just fantasy, Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality' – These lines from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody can be interpreted as the most apt definition of an inevitable void in any person's life- teenage. The first few golden years of life, it is good, right? Flowers, fairytales and food. Yeah, that kind of won’t last. In a few years you’re going to be catapulted into a state of unavoidable mental and physical transition, almost like limbo, because you enter a child and leave, grown up and scarred for life. Just kidding, you leave an adult. But don’t worry, I’m here to make it easier for you, since I’ll be exiting Limbo in a few days' time. Trust me, you’ll need this. Year twelve of your life is coming to an end and as you cut the cake to welcome your thirteenth year, BOOM! Welcome to Limbo my dear friend, we have to get to work right away since the neurons in your brain start getting pruned almost as early as the first second you enter your teenage years. The amount of gray matter (cell bodies) reduces in brain scans over this period. This means that whatever you do or learn in this period becomes particularly established in your brain. The advantage of pruning is that the brain becomes more efficient. But, pruning can also lead to the onset of mental illnesses since it highlights the faults in neural circuitry. You will be particularly sensitive about your surroundings and that nasty remark made by your classmate towards you will hurt and impact more than it did before, or being left out from a group activity will probably hurt more than physical pain. You will be able to form better, more sentimental bonds. You will be able to think better and understand situations around you better. You’ll have better solutions to your problems. This starts to take place since you will need these skills later during adulthood, where to go about life, you will need to form bonds with people. Dopamine, the feel good hormone in your brain will be at an all time high, thus keeping your energy levels high always. You will develop your own taste in things, you will form your own opinions, have liking towards certain things and a dislike for other things. As a teenager you have to cope both with changes in your body as well as new feelings of attraction—to and from other people. And while, you’ll be getting and experiencing more freedom, it has its downside as well. These new feelings can give rise to lots of “sexual policing” of others’ behaviour (especially online), sexual harassment, inappropriate behaviour, sexualization and objectification of girls, and homophobia, especially for boys. Individuation is the process of becoming more independent and autonomous while staying connected to loved ones. Teens often seem to push against parents, but if you look closely, it’s usually over superficial matters, like pop culture. The same will happen to you. You will fight with your parents and rebel but as you grow up you will realise the reasons were petty. The ages from 12-15 is the period of greatest biologically-driven disequilibrium but also a period of great potential. How parents navigate this time with their teens—celebrating their power, enjoying them, appreciating their gifts, scaffolding their development, and mitigating their risks—has a huge impact on setting their direction on a steady course into adulthood. Towards the end of limbo, your brain cells will go through a process of renewal and expansion similar to that of a system update on your cell or computer. And as you pass through that phase, my dear friend you finally leave limbo and enter into a whole new world of experiences, stories and journeys…adulthood.