American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [230]
• Keep track of how your children spend their free time, and know where they are. Children with too much free time away from adults can get into trouble and are at increased risk of smoking, drinking alcohol, and using drugs. Encourage bored teens to join an activity, sport, or club (or start one of their own). You can also suggest activities such as household chores, reading, tutoring, or doing volunteer work in the community.
• Spend a lot of time by themselves in their room—but not for days at a time.
• Are often frustrated with home life or their parents—but not enough to run away from home.
• May be distracted—but not to the extent that they do poorly in school or get fired from a job.
• Get moody or irritable—but are pleasant most of the time.
• Argue or lose their temper—but will not become physically violent.
Tattoos and Body Piercings
During adolescence, every generation finds ways to make itself different from the previous generation. Creating a separate identity through body modification is often part of the process. If a teen changes his or her appearance as a form of self-expression, it usually is not harmful. Some teens get tattoos or piercings to make a social statement, fit in with their friends, emulate a favorite celebrity, or rebel against the standard forms of beauty. However, it is illegal in most states for anyone under 18 to get piercings or tattoos without a parent’s consent.
Some parents find it hard to accept tattoos and piercings because they worry about what other people might think and because tattoos are permanent. If your child wants to get a tattoo or piercing, discuss the short- and long-term consequences. Tattoos and piercings pose the risk of a bacterial or viral infection such as hepatitis B or C (see page 786) from unsterile conditions or contaminated needles. A person can’t give blood for a year after getting a tattoo or piercing because of the risk of transmitting hepatitis.
A piercing can take up to 2 years to heal. Piercings around the mouth or in the tongue can cause cracked teeth, nerve damage or paralysis, or difficulty speaking—and can be swallowed accidentally. Piercings also can get caught on clothes and other objects and rip the skin.
Tattoos are expensive and difficult to remove. If your teen decides to get a tattoo or piercing, make sure it is done by a highly skilled, licensed professional.
If a teen gets more and more tattoos or piercings and never seems satisfied, or if tattoos are large or in highly visible places (such as the forehead) or are obscene or violent, the teen may have a psychological or emotional problem. Some teens like to provoke a reaction in other people. If you think your teen’s behavior is harming him or her, or is disturbing to others, discuss the situation with your doctor or a mental health professional. Your teen could probably benefit from counseling.
Smoking and Using Tobacco
Almost all adults who smoke cigarettes (see page 27) became addicted by the time they were 17. The average smoker starts by age 12 and smokes daily by age 14. Teens usually start smoking because their friends do, they think it’s cool, and it makes them seem older. Boys often think it makes them look manly, and many girls do it to look glamorous and to control their weight.
What Teens Should Know About Smoking and Tobacco
Teens who smoke rarely respond to warnings about the health effects of smoking because most problems develop only after many years of smoking. Try to get your teen to stop smoking or using other tobacco products (or not to start) by stressing the negative effects that are most important to him or her now:
• Attractiveness Few teens want to date someone who smokes. They say that seeing someone smoke turns them off and that they don’t like being around smokers.
• Image Smoking causes bad breath; stained teeth; smelly hair and clothes; wrinkled, dry skin; and red, itchy, watery eyes.