The Role of Parents in the Development of Adolescents

Social interaction is essential for the development of children, which impacts their individual abilities and personalities (Light 67). Childhood interaction is critical in ensuring that the adolescent acquires effective communication skills, team work skills as well as the ability to build friendship. An interaction between adult and adolescent may be evaluated by examining tone of the voice, body language and the general state of temperament for each person.

 I was able to observe an interaction between an adolescent and an adult in a school compound.  The body language of the adolescent showed that he had the right self-esteem and the right feeling. Through my observation, there was an effective communication between them. On the other hand, the body language of the adult showed confidence, and conviction. Perhaps, the senior individual had a conviction that he was nurturing or molding a young person.  The overall state of temperament was right, and each individual show confidence (Light 68). They had the right moods and attitude, which was enhanced by effective communication.

In my view, the adolescent responded in that particular ways because he had a good upbringing, and possibly he had been associating with adults. Interacting with adults enables acquisition of good communication skills, and also helps in building confidence among the adolescents.

The theorist’s work that can be used to explain the adolescent behaviors is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (Light 67). The theory describes how an adolescent constructs psychological model of the world. Piaget argues that child development occurs at biological maturation as well as interaction with the environment.

In summary, child development can be influenced by the environment. Adult persons have an essential role in influencing how children communicate, and helps in building child’s social skills.

Work Cited

Light, Paul. “Social interaction and cognitive development: a review of post-Piagetian research.” Developing thinking. Routledge, 2017. 67-88.