Teenagers with a crush on their teacher
As teenagers grow up, at some point in their lives they are likely to experience a crush on a pop star, a movie star or someone on television. They may even have a serious case of adoration for an older neighborhood boy or girl, all perfectly understandable, and painful for the teenager at the time. This is unrequited love, a stage many young people go through as they try to come to terms with hormonal changes and awareness of the opposite sex. The very unattainable nature of the object of their desire is a protection in its own right, and parents should not be overly worried that their teenager will suffer any long term emotional damage from the attachment.
It becomes slightly more complicated if the object of the teenagers infatuation is a teacher at their high school, as the age gap may not be that great and the teenagers' feelings are stronger by that age. Teachers are aware of the possibility of teenage infatuation and have been trained how to deal with it, but it can be awkward and difficult for them also, and some handle it better than others. Parents may not initially realize that their teenager is in the throes of a crush, although younger siblings may notice and tease them about it, enjoying watching them squirm.
If that is all they do, get embarrassed, then eventually they are likely to grow out of it. On the other hand, if a teenager becomes abnormally angry and reacts to an extreme degree when teased or asked about a particular teacher, parents would be well advised to keep a close eye on the situation. The teens' obsession will be a topic for discussion, and potential bullying amongst their peers, so they may find themselves involved in conflicts at school.
Teenagers tend to have a distorted view of emotional connections and may not be able to distinguish between an adult who is friendly and kind and one who is returning their affections. If the crush persists for any length of time, the parents may wish to enlist the schools' help, discreetly, and endeavor to find ways to distract the teenager from the object of their infatuation.
It would also be a good idea to try and discover why the teenager is so obsessed, and what they feel is missing from their lives; extreme obsessions tend to be masking other emotional issues. If the situation becomes untenable, the teenager may have to be removed from the school for a period of time in order to break the obsession and support them with counseling.