Adolescence: A time for parenting metamorphosis

THE FINAL EPISODE OF THE NETFLIX HIT 'ADOLESCENCE' IN PARTICULAR HIGHLIGHTED THAT TEENAGE IS A NOT A TIME FOR PARENTS TO STEP BACK FROM PARENTING. IT'S THE MOMENT TO LEAN IN

- Aparna Piramal Raje

Adolescence, Netflix's hit series, has shocked the world with its hard-hitting depiction of a 13-year-old boy, Jamie Miller, accused of murdering his classmate. Heather Stewart, a retired child and adolescent psychotherapist, who chaired the Association of Child Psychotherapists in the UK, is as shocked as most viewers. Except to her, the subject of the series is frighteningly close to home.

"We see a lot of potential violence in many of the young men we meet. I remember there was a young teenage boy who I flagged as dangerous in the [mental health] system. He left the area and was not part of the NHS care system, and then went on to commit a double murder," she recalls, adding "that the situation has gotten worse over the last few years. Social media has made it acceptable for young men to openly express feelings of violence, especially with influencers like Andrew Tate," she says, underlining the drama's real-life relevance.

It might be easy for us living in India to conclude that our context is different from the gritty streets of northern England. But Megha Sekhsaria-Mawandia, who is a family therapist based in Mumbai, disagrees. "The show captures the subtle but powerful influences shaping teenagers today — the coded language, the quiet shifts in identity, and the pressures they navigate in a world that often feels hidden from parents."