ABSTRACT
This chapters discusses the five key elements that are associated with each of the letters in the word stage. It begins with the discussion about S the idea of significance showing why parents of teenagers are so very important. The S represents the fact that parents of teenagers matter just as much as parents of younger children. Of all the many feelings that parents of teenagers experience, one of the most common is the sense of not being important any more. A well-known psychoanalyst and writer on adolescence, Erik Ericson, describes this teenage stage as one of negative identity. In this stage it is necessary for the teenager to show independence and to be separate from the parents. The search for independence creates challenges for adults. Patterns of communication and the way authority is exercised are two ways in which the behaviour of parents makes a difference to the young person.
