Parenting and the Frontal Lobe

It’s easy to be fooled by appearances. One way in which parents can be easily fooled is by the appearance of a child who has recently passed through puberty. It sure does happen fast, doesn’t it? And on the day we notice that a child’s body has transformed from that of a child to that of an adult we can easily be fooled into thinking that our parenting work might be done. We might think that there’s nothing more we can do or say since they already look and want to be treated like adults. But don’t be fooled. They need your guidance and direction now more than ever. In her book on the teenage brain, Sarah Jayne Blakemore reminds us that the brain’s frontal lobe is not fully formed until about the age of twenty-four or twenty-five years old. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that’s responsible for decision-making and impulse control. While they might look like adults, they aren’t yet thinking like adults. God wants us to continue to actively parent our kids. In effect. We need to function as their frontal lobe!