Do you remember when the “Tide Pod Challenge” meant getting your clothes dirty and then washing them with Tide laundry detergent? Well, it is now a jaw-droppingly idiotic adolescent phenomenon involving ingesting Tide pods. While by no means a major movement, this “splinter” phenomena still can be used by us to understand a number of critical psychological mechanisms seemingly in play.
Remember, your adolescent has exposure to hundreds of opportunities to engage in impulsive behavior, many of them sensationalized on the Internet. Even suicide is now sensationalized via YouTube videos that almost make it seem to have a Hollywood-esque vibe.
As parents, we need to utilize a deeper intelligence-driven approach to understanding impulsive behavior among our adolescents, because our adolescents engage in risky behaviors all the time. That is probably why car insurance rates for those under 25 are the highest.
Because our adolescents are more exposed to more inappropriate/impulsive behavioral patterns than any other generation ever has been on planet Earth, as a parent you need to use a cutting-edge approach to making sure your adolescent is not inappropriately influenced by what can often be powerful psychological mechanisms. These mechanisms can lead to harm, and sometimes death.
The following 5 minute video offered by the Sci Show YouTube channel actually offers a very good synopsis of social psychological factors that, in my opinion, are in play when adolescents engage in impulsive behavior quite often.
Take five minutes to watch this video with your adolescent and discuss it over dinner. Trust me, that five minutes could save you and your adolescent hundreds of hours of heartache, and maybe even save their life!