Youth Program

There are 3 stages of adolescence: early, middle, and late, and youth characteristics change during each stage.  The Youth Program focuses on early and middle adolescents.

Pathfinders: Middle Schoolers (6-8 grade)

Early Adolescence 10 -14 years of age

  • Emerging identity shaped by in/external influences; moodiness; improved speech to express oneself; more likely to express feelings by action than by words (maybe more true for males)

  • Close friendships gain importance; less attention shown to parents, with occasional rudeness; realization parents are not perfect

  • Identification of own faults; search for new people to love in addition to parents; tendency to return to childish behavior during times of stress; peer group influence on personal interests and clothing styles

  • Rule and limit testing; experimentation with cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol; capacity for abstract thought

  • Increasing career interests; primarily interested in the present and near future; greater ability to work

Empowered: High Schoolers (9-12, ages 14-18)

Middle Adolescence 14-18 years of age

  • Self-involvement, alternating between unrealistically high expectations and worries about failure; complaints that parents interfere with independence;

  • Extremely concerned with appearance and body; feelings of strangeness about one’s self and body;

  • The lowered opinion of and withdrawal from parents; effort to make new friends; strong emphasis on the new peer group; periods of sadness as parents' psychological loss occurs; examination of inner experiences, including writing a diary

  • Intellectual interests gain importance; some sexual and aggressive energies are directed into creative and career interests; anxiety can emerge from school and academic performance

  • Development of ideals and selection of role models; more consistent evidence of conscience; greater goal setting capacity; interest in moral reasoning

Proposed Hours for the Youth Program

Contact us.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Email
tec@trinityedcenter.org

Phone
(802) 777-8080

Fax
(802) 419-8248