Dealing with teenage mood swings
As a parent life is can be tough enough without your teenager being erratically high and happy one minute and low and depressed the next. Teenage mood swings are notorious and hormones are more often than not blamed for this seesaw of emotions. A teenagers' mood can infect the whole household and color the day for everyone, including younger siblings, who cannot fathom why their favorite sister is being so mean today.
Some parents become so exasperated by their teenagers moods that they stop communicating with them, grateful when the teenager is not having a strop and taking that time to get on with their own lives, effectively ignoring the teenager. Long term this can have a damaging effect on the teenager, the family dynamic and ultimately the parent teenage relationship deteriorates completely. Whilst silence is sometimes a good tactic in the face of a screaming teenager, once they have calmed down, some sort of rational communication needs to take place.
A teenager may not have a lot of control over their hormones, and may genuinely feel terrible, but they do have a choice over how they express their feelings. A quick warning to their parents that they are feeling grumpy and perhaps not in the mood for a chat, may be sufficient for the rest of the family to carry on as normal, the teen to stay quiet and then when they feel more up to it, rejoining the family chat and discussions.
Teens need to learn how to control the way they express themselves, as adults they may have occasions when they feel depressed and fed up, but have to carry on, if they do not learn how to do that, they will grow into dysfunctional adults. A teens' euphoria can be just as tricky to handle as their rages, they may be inclined to risky behavior when in this state, feeling invincible and able to take on any situation. They can be very excitable, and may be generally rather loud, restless and playful with siblings, which can be quite fun for the younger brother or sister! All of this is quite normal if somewhat exhausting for the family, in fact teenage mood swings are normal; their brains and body are still developing and going through an enormous upheaval, the teenager themselves wonders if they may be going slightly mad!
Parents need to worry only when violent or destructive behavior is part of the mood swings, or when the down in the dumps, persists and the teen shows signs of depression, which is not normal. In the meantime, when the teen is calm, parents should talk them through strategies for dealing with surges of anger and irritation and the family can establish personal signals that allow the teen to be left alone when they need it, or cry when they need to or talk if that will help. The good news is that most teens with a bit of support and a lot of tolerance, come out of the other end of puberty a relatively normal unscathed human being, mood swings are not forever!