DD and I talked about this yesterday...
there are a pair of factors at work with adolescents, and both of them are the product of peculiar brain development that occurs during adolescence.
1. They are
aware of statistics-- but 100% confident (and that should be a red flag right there) on an
emotional level that they will ever be one of them. This is why they take risks which are frankly CRAZY, like texting and driving... but it's only part of the reason, since
2. They also firmly believe that (and this is so irrational that it makes me laugh and shake my head every time I consider it, but I've seen WAY too many adolescents, and they ALL thought like this)--
I'll do something about it if it, you know, seems like it is going to matter.3. They believe in their competence in ways that are
not evidence supported. My 13yo fully believes, for example, that it would be "safer" for HER to drive than to ride in a car with a drunk peer behind the wheel. In spite of me repeatedly pointing out that her improved reaction time and alertness would in NO way make up for the fact that she has exactly zero road experience.
So this second point.
Yes, this is why they'll HOLD a bicycle helmet and think "I've got it in case I need it."
SERIOUSLY?? Oh. Okay. I'm going to use my superpowers to halt time just for a sec while I don my protective gear in preparation for being knocked off of my bicycle by that two ton vehicle.
Honestly, the only way to
really get through to them on that score is to... allow something truly awful to happen to them. In real time, they tend to understand that accidents are NOT necessarily forseeable, and that they happen in an instant. This is why you wear a seatbelt ALL the time in the car.
Adults with more life experience seem to just KNOW this. Teens, not so much. It's as though they haven't really been tuned in to their surroundings and paying attention all this time or something, for the amount that their sum of life experience has taught them on this particular subject. They SHOULD know. And they do--
theoretically. DD and I had an explicit conversation about risk and teens yesterday touching upon all three points. She agrees with me that items one and two are true, and when I walked her to the natural conclusions on point two, she was sheepish and admitted that this is EXACTLY what she and her friends are thinking. "Oh, it's fine-- and if it isn't, I'll take action then."
So if you need more than one dose of epinephrine, you'll start carrying one? wish really hard while you struggle to breathe? What? I'd love to hear that explanation.