ABSTRACT
Why do many adolescents request younger counselors and teachers? Their perception, although sometimes mistaken, is that older counselors (anyone ten years older than they are) have forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. They feel we try to force feed adult solutions that are not yet relevant for them. They feel we do not understand the culture of adolescence. We do this by dismissing a youth's feelings by using terms such as puppy love or failing to remember what it was like to feel everyone was looking at us all the time. Perhaps most importantly, they feel we have
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38 Working With Challenging Youth
forgotten how important it was to fit in-to belong. We're worried about goals while they are focused on roles. Long range goals (i.e., college) are important, but they'll always be secondary for youth who feel they do not belong (Glasser, 1972). No wonder there are so many impasses.
