Show teens some love, parents and teachers urged

By The Nation

 

A call has gone out to parents ahead of Valentine’s Day to teach their teenage children life skills and be alert for risky behaviour.

 

Dr Boonreung Traireungworarat, director general of the Public Health Ministry’s Mental Health Department, noted on Tuesday that many teens rely overly on their boyfriends and girlfriends for a sense of happiness.

 

He announced the findings of a just-completed Rajanagarindra Institute of Child and Adolescent Mental Health survey of 2,100 students ages 11-19 in Bangkok and vicinity.

 

Two-thirds of the respondents said they were happy with their lives and 70 per cent said they derived happiness from helping others.

 

Another 18.6 per cent said spending time with their families made them happy.

 

One-third said they were unhappy, though, citing lack of confidence in solving life issues, lack of self-esteem, and a sense of being a failure.

 

Asked about Valentine’s Day, 39 per cent said it was an occasion to profess love, while 33 per cent felt indifferent about it. Some noted it was an annual occasion for adults to warn young people about the dangers of romantic relationships.

 

More than 41 per cent indicated they’d had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of these, 95.7 per cent said they’d had “at least 1-5 partners”.

 

One respondent claimed to have had 20 partners.

 

The youngest age given for having had a first boyfriend or girlfriend was eight years and the oldest 17. Half the respondents who had had a partner said they could depend on them for happiness, that they made them feel complete and no longer lonely.

 

Asked what they do when they feel uneasy or upset, 51.3 per cent said they enjoyed spending time alone quietly, trying to solve the problem by themselves. More than 43 per cent vented their feelings to sympathetic friends. Fewer turned to their parents.

 

Boonreung expressed concern over the tendency among teens to attach their happiness and self-esteem to other persons, saying that if a problem arose with that other person, it could result in stress, depression or even premature pregnancy.

 

The “silver lining” in the survey results, he said, was that many youngsters derive happiness from helping others and spending time with the family.

 

Parents, teachers and older relatives should cultivate those attitudes to help prevent risky behaviour, such as drug abuse, premature pregnancy, self-inflicted injury and suicide, he said.

 

“Spending more time with your teens and giving importance to promoting their life skills and constructive activities will boost their self-esteem,” he said.

 

Institute director Wimonrat Wanpen said the five issues most cited by teens calling its hotline (1323) and visiting the office were stress, romantic disputes, sexual matters, mental health problems and family disputes.

 

She urged everyone in society to promote life skills so the youngsters maintain self-esteem, can analyse and solve problems constructively, and are able to control emotions, manage stress and create good relations with others.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30338731

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-13

3 minutes ago, webfact said:

A call has gone out to parents ahead of Valentine’s Day to teach their teenage children life skills and be alert for risky behaviour.

Valentines Day is tomorrow, I guess one day is enough to teach a teenager life skills/Thai Niyom!

As a parent, if you don't take an interest in your kids' lives, watch them perform sports, etc, they will look for it elsewhere. And it never usually leads to any healthy kind of behaviour. Physically or mentally. 

 

This is why we have so many attention seeking narcissists. They've always been around. Social networking just gave them a more prominent platform. 

 

 

Edited February 13, 20188 yr by rkidlad

Okay, waiting for the annual Anti - S******X campaigns from the cultural ministry 

I love many teens ... 

2 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I love many teens ... 

......and Generals!

Oh, is it this time of the year again?

Aggghhhh, the annual Valentine's Day nonsense from the Ministry. 

 

Please also make sure you look out for any young couples holding hands or kissing and stop them immediately as that could lead to intercourse and pregnancy. 

Hard in some cases to teaching about,Thai boys in particular are never told when they have done wrong,in some cases,that is why it is a Matriarchal society,the women mostly control things,my view anyway. 

Valentine’s day warning: Teenagers depend on their romantic partners too much

By The Nation

 

 

Parents have been urged ahead of Valentine’s Day to teach teenage children life skills and be alert for risky behaviour.

 

Dr Boonreung Traireungworarat, director-general of the Public Health Ministry’s Mental Health Department, said yesterday many teenagers relied too much on boyfriends and girlfriends for a sense of happiness.

 

He announced the findings of a recent Rajanagarindra Institute of Child and Adolescent Mental Health survey of 2,100 students ages 11-19 in Bangkok and its vicinity. 

 

Two-thirds of respondents said they were happy with their lives and 70 per cent said they derived happiness from helping others.

Another 18.6 per cent said spending time with their families made them happy. 

 

One-third said they were unhappy, citing a lack of confidence in solving life issues, a lack of self-esteem and a sense of being a failure.

 

Asked about Valentine’s Day, 39 per cent said it was an occasion to profess love, while 33 per cent felt indifferent about it. Some noted it was an annual occasion for adults to warn young people about the dangers of romantic relationships. 

 

More than 41 per cent indicated they had had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of these, 95.7 per cent said they’d had “at least one to five partners”. 

 

One respondent claimed to have had 20 partners. 

 

The youngest age given for having had a first boyfriend or girlfriend was eight years and the oldest 17. 

 

Half of respondents who had had a partner said they could depend on them for happiness and that they made them feel complete and no longer lonely.

 

Asked what they did when they felt uneasy or upset, 51.3 per cent said they enjoyed spending time alone quietly, trying to solve problems by themselves. More than 43 per cent vented their feelings to sympathetic friends. Fewer turned to their parents. 

 

Boonreung expressed concern over the tendency among teenagers to attach their happiness and self-esteem to other persons, saying that if a problem arose with that other person, it could result in stress, depression or even premature pregnancy. 

 

The “silver lining” in the survey results, he said, was that many youngsters derive happiness from helping others and spending time with the family.

 

Parents, teachers and older relatives should cultivate those attitudes to help prevent risky behaviour, such as drug abuse, unhealthy sexual behaviour, self-inflicted injury and suicide, he said. 

 

“Spending more time with your teens and giving importance to promoting their life skills and constructive activities will boost their self-esteem,” he said.

 

Institute director Wimonrat Wanpen said the five issues most cited by teens calling its hotline and visiting the office were stress, romantic disputes, sexual matters, mental health problems and family disputes.

 

She urged people to promote life skills so teenagers could maintain self-esteem, analyse and solve problems constructively and be able to control emotions, manage stress and create good relations with others.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30338757

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-14

Parents, teachers and older relatives should cultivate those attitudes to help prevent risky behaviour, such as drug abuse, premature pregnancy, self-inflicted injury and suicide, he said.

 

“Spending more time with your teens and giving importance to promoting their life skills and constructive activities will boost their self-esteem,” he said.

 

DUH! Is that not the very definition of parenting? What I do not understand, is why even bother to have children, unless you are absolutely committed to taking great care of them, giving them alot of support, kindness and love, and making sure they have super high self esteem. If you are not capable of that, you are not really a parent. Just someone who feeds and clothes the kids. Say it out loud. I am not really a parent! 

What Thai father never came back from what war. This is a Thai news story, remember?

Geezer

"Boonreung expressed concern over the tendency among teens to attach their happiness and self-esteem to other persons, saying that if a problem arose with that other person, it could result in stress, depression or even premature pregnancy"

In what kind of pot with some special liquide this guy was falling?!?!??!?!?!

He must be out of this world and his advices are one of the most stupid ones you ever can get!

I'd be more inclined to say keep your hands to yourself teachers and parents when dealing with teenagers. 

 

On 13/02/2018 at 9:58 AM, webfact said:

Show teens some love, parents and teachers urged

Some teachers, especially head teachers, show too much love...or rather the sexual abuse that passes for love in their diseased minds.