She whispers for hours on the telephone to someone whom she claims is “just a friend”. She is absentminded and you can often see her staring into space with contented smile upon her face. She is in the throes of her first crush! To have the capacity to feel a crush for someone is the first greatest discovery of being an adolescent. That is the time when teenagers’ room is filled with posters of handsome and beautiful stars.

Anybody who does not have a crush on any movie star or rock star during her adolescence can possibly have a stunted psychological growth, say psychologists. It is noticeable that children who do not go through this stage of crushes during any stage of their childhood or adolescence grow up to be antisocial and emotionally underdeveloped. This is because they do not want to allow themselves to get attached to someone, even if he or she is someone totally unattainable. So when they have to start relationships with “real life” people, they find it difficult to communicate and open up in a normal way.

It is usually at the age of 15 or 16 that a teenager decides to do something about new- found emotions and dream of love for someone other than his/her family. It is this love which will allow her to move away from the secure cocoon of family life and affection while being assured of a reassuring transition to adulthood.

The idea of a boyfriend or a girlfriend has never been part of the Oriental tradition, but as life expectancy in the medieval ages was very low, child marriage was the norm. However, thanks to the superimposition of western culture on us through books and the TV, it is not unusual to see parents of schoolchildren teasing them about their boyfriends and girlfriends.

In searching for the love of her live, an adolescent passes through the stage of being enamoured by many specimens! You can call first love’s fireworks — intense and burning red hot but without any substance. All know that being a parent is not easy, especially when your girl is entering teenage. The teenage years are the age when a girl gets in touch with her emotions. A parent should envelope the child with care without negating her feeling and if not, they will always regret the fact that their child does not trust them anymore.