Physical Activity

Young adolescents’ spurts of boundless energy are as well known as their periods of dreamy lethargy. They need time to stretch, wiggle, and exercise rapidly growing bodies; they also need time to relax. Adults who work with young adolescents need to remember the diversity in strength, dexterity and size of youth in this age group. Intensely competitive physical activity often places unnecessary burden on late-bloomers who cannot compete successfully. Early bloomers who are pressured into conforming to towards athletic prowess rather than intellectual or social development also can be harmed by stressful sports competition.

Competence and Achievement

Because young adolescents experience extraordinary self-consciousness about their own new selves and the attitude of others towards them, it is easy to understand their overwhelming desire to do something well and to receive admiration for achievement. Young people hunger for chances to prove themselves, especially in ways that are rewarding if all goes well and not devastating if there are some disappointments. Young adolescents need to know what they do is valued by others whom they respect.

Self-Definition

Rapidly changing bodies and minds require time to absorb new ways of thinking, new mirrored reflections and new reactions from others. To accommodate the new selves that they are becoming, young adolescents need chances to consider what it means to be a man or woman and to belong to a racial, ethnic, and/or cultural group. They need time to find a friend and share a secret or to have a good talk with an adult. They need opportunities to explore their widening world and to reflect upon the meaning of new experiences, so that they can begin to consider themselves not just as observers, but as participants in society.

Creative Expression

Opportunities to express creatively their new feelings, interests, abilities and thoughts help young adolescents to understand and accept the new people they are becoming. Performing and being exposed to drama, literature and musical works of others helps them see that people before them have felt the emotions and thought the ideas that are new and confusing to them. In addition to the arts, young adolescents can find opportunities for creative expression in sports such as synchronized swimming and roller skating and in activities like tending a garden or painting a wall mural.

Positive Social Interactions with Peers and Adults

Young adolescents’ parents and families remain of primary importance in setting values and giving affection. Their peers offer needed support, companionship and criticism. In addition, adults other than parents have an effect on the lives of young adolescents, who are so eager to understand the possibilities of adulthood. Young adolescents need relationships with adults who are willing to share their own experiences, views, values and feelings with young people. These adults will also encourage adolescents to develop positive relationships with peers.

Structure and Clear Limits

Young adolescents live in a society of rules, and they want to know and understand their own limits within that system. Clear expectations are crucial to unsure, self-critical young people. Their search for security in a world of conflicting demands is helped by explicit boundaries that define the areas in which they may legitimately seek freedom to explore. They differ from younger children, though, in that they are increasingly capable of participating with adults in framing their own rules and limits.

Meaningful Participation

Youth need to participate in the activities that shape their lives. Successful events are planned with, not for, young adolescents. As they develop a mature appearance and more sophisticated social and intellectual skills, they want opportunities to use their new talents. And by learning that their actions can affect the world around them, they gain a sense of responsibility. Adults can help young adolescents see themselves as citizens by providing opportunities for them to make meaningful contributions to their communities. Adults need to adapt responsibilities to the short-term attention span characteristic of young adolescents, and to select varied tasks that enlist diverse interests and abilities.

Developmental diversity is the central characteristic of young adolescence. Because of the wide variations in "normal" growth rates during puberty, there may be a six- to eight-year span in physical development among a group of young adolescents of the same chronological age. Just as important, young adolescents master at very different rates the new cognitive skills that begin during this time. A group of 13 or 14-year-olds would probably include some girls who look like young women and are capable of bearing children. Beside these girls might stand girls who are just beginning to develop womanly curves and are not menstruating. A few boys in the group might look like strapping young men, while others have barely begun their growth spurt. A few of the boys and girls may have mastered the new thinking skills we call "formal operations, "but most will be moving between the concrete thinking of childhood and the abstract thinking that is more characteristic of adulthood. Because of their enormous developmental diversity, young adolescents require a variety of types and levels of activities designed to meet the seven needs described.