A comment I often hear from parents is, “She is so smart, how could she (get pregnant/ take drugs/ drive drunk/ shoplift/ send out naked pictures of herself/ trust a man she met online/ get that tattoo when she’s going to job interviews…)?” Obviously, the options are endless, but the real issue is- how do teenagers who are very intelligent, often do well in school, and obviously understand many adult concepts, do something phenomenally short-sighted, impulsive, or just plain dumb?
We are tempted to associate academic intelligence or cultural literacy with other forms of intelligence, such as emotional intelligence or maturity. To us, it makes sense that a teen who excels in one form of intelligence would be advanced in others.
It’s true that successful teens do tend to have positive character traits. Many teens who excel academically, or in more intellectual hobbies such as debate, youth government, or social justice work, possess more organization and tenacity than your average teen. However, teenage emotional regulation, judgment, and impulsiveness are usually underdeveloped at best. It’s not their fault- their brains are still developing full adult capacity for these traits. Read full post »
Recently the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that boys aged 11-12 be vaccinated against HPV, a recommendation already in place for girls. It also recommended that boys aged 13-21 received “catch up” doses if they were not vaccinated already. I’m not going to discuss the safety and efficacy of vaccines in general- mostly because I don’t have enough room- but Seattle Mama Doc has wonderful posts about this topic in her blog. This post is specifically to address the issues raised by recommending HPV vaccine for male pre-teens and teens.
