It's caused by brain pruning!
Find a Conversation
It's caused by brain pruning!
| Tue, 01-02-2007 - 1:15am |
Scientists are gaining new insights into remarkable changes in teenagers' brains that may help explain why the teen years are so hard on young people -- and on their parents.
From ages 11 to 14, a young person loses a substantial fraction of the connections between cells in the part of the brain that enable him or her to think clearly and make good decisions.
It clears out, or "prunes," unneeded wiring to make way for more efficient information-processing in adults.
(Read the full story below)

A similar article to this was in our local newspaper several months ago. BEWARE of well intentioned grandmothers!!! Some information should not be passed to our children. My MIL read the article to me with my 16yo DD in the kitchen (appearing to ignore us as usual). A few weeks ago I arrived home to find chores not finished and when questioned (by her warden, as I am often called), DD responded "Mom, I can't remember everything, remember Nana said the doctors discovered that my brain is not connecting all the time."
So now we have medical diagnoses for not getting chores done? Boggles the mind how my DD can turn research on teen development in to a pass on responsibility. They are listening only when you wish they were raiding the frig. ROFL
As I told a friends teen, now that you KNOW your brain is slightly ineffective doesn't mean you have an excuse for things. It means you now know you need to implement ways to COMPENSATE for your brain's temporary inability to focus.
Puts the responsibility right back on their shoulders!