A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep: America's Shallow Approach to Adolescence

A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep is the first metaphor used in this different way of looking at adolescence in America.  While many are caught up in recent literature about teen brain function and cognitive development, sometimes people just need a bigger perspective to understand the smaller behaviors. This is the goal of A Mile Wide…

Adolescence is the second greatest growth phase we ever go through, second only to birth-to-two years old. Over just a couple of years, kids radically change body shapes and sizes, their perception of the world and their role in it, they begin breaking away from the family, they create a stronger attachment to peers, and acquire a taste for more adult behavior. They are sexually capable and active. They experiment with other behaviors that scare us adults but that we likely indulged in ourselves in our own youth.

What seems to bother most people about adolescence is its testing process, which many people refer to as defiant or rebellious. I don't think that is completely accurate, at least in early adolescence. It is not that teens begin by merely flouting the rules, but it's more about them needing to see if the reality they have been taught as children really stands up to testing. They need to prove for themselves the ways of the world. If guided, as in a rite of passage model, then the testing is met with healthy resistance and accommodation, helping teens come to adult conclusions about the world and their role in it.

For example, teens start shifting into adulthood when they learn the difference between the idealistic teen hope of the way the world should be versus the way it actually is. The trick is not to burst all their dreams and goals, and also not squelch their curiosity and subsequent growth from their behavior and experiences. After all, don't we learn our deepest and most important lessons from our mistakes? If we stop teens from being able to experiment and push the boundaries a bit, we deny them this growth opportunity.

Of course, boundaries and consequences around their behavior have to happen to keep teens from getting too far out of control, but we must stop pathologizing teens for testing those boundaries. They are not wrong or bad by simple virtue of testing our norms and values. Too many people misunderstand the need to test and learn with some alleged plot to just be defiant and devious for fun. It may seem, or feel like that, but it is a necessary process. Since we all know that we learn many of our most important life lessons through our mistakes, we have to allow them enough room to slip and grow without totally shutting down their ability to experiment a bit.
Adolescents serve a greater function in society than most adults realize. For much of the past hundred years, teens have been made more and more irresponsible, which now many adults sadly hold against teens. The attempt of this book is to give the reader a wide variety of ways to understand and think about the process and challenge of adolescence. The goal has been to give readers numerous ways to ponder this incredible developmental period, too often misunderstood.
Twenty essays offer a unique view of the world of teens, and help explain many of the "Why do they do it?" questions so many adults dealing with teens have. Below are the chapter and essay titles from A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep

Canaries in the Coal Mine The Zen of Adolescence The Drug of Distraction The Illusion of Control Adolescent Essence From Irresponsibility to Responsibility Cause and Effect Cultural Mirrors Boundaries are Like a Boxing Ring Adolescence is a Soccer Game Whetstones of Life I Think, Therefore I Deserve Labyrinth vs the Maze The Religion of Gangs Prisoners of War Persistence vs. Futility Information Overload or Overdose Attention Deficit Square Pegs and Round Holes Mythology of Adolescence