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Faith Topics
How is Your Teen Wired?
Your Teen's Brain Preference
Your teen's brain has two separate but connected halves known as the left and
right hemispheres. Each controls different ways of thinking and perceiving. Your
teen uses both sides of her brain but has a preference for one over the
other.
When you do something that's in line with your brain preference, it doesn't
take a huge effort. But a task that requires using the other side of your brain
makes it work 50 to 100 percent harder.
Her brain will want to stay on the side where it functions most naturally.
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The left side of the brain handles sequential, logical, rational thought. Memorizing,
spelling, vocabulary, language and mathematical formulas come easily to it.
So do following rules and making decisions based on logic, proof, and facts.
The right side of the brain, meanwhile, is in charge of creativity and feelings.
While the left side takes bits of information and arranges them in a logical
order, the right side entertains random thought patterns.
What does all this mean for your teen's future? It means she'd better take
her brain preference into account as she considers the kind of work she'll do
and where she'll do it.
Whether she's at work or in school, her brain will want to stay on the side
where it functions most naturally. Forcing herself to use the "other"
side of her brain all the time can lead to headaches, fatigue, burnout and frequent
illnesses - not to mention procrastination, frustration, mistakes, poor concentration,
moodiness, memory problems and a pretty low view of herself.
As your teen thinks about what classes to take, remember that subjects like
these may be easier for left-brained people: math (algebra, statistics or calculus),
history, civics, reading, technical writing, research, electrical engineering,
public speaking, debate team, typing, accounting and bookkeeping.
In which career fields do you find more left-brained people? Corporate presidents,
chief financial officers, lawyers, physicians, accountants, bookkeepers, auditors,
dentists, electrical and electronic engineers, assembly-line workers, managers
and supervisors of all types, operating room and intensive care nurses, mechanics
and machinists.
On the other hand - or hemisphere - which subjects in school may be easier
for right-brained people? Math (geometry, trigonometry), biology, music,
creative writing, foreign languages, drama, dance, choreography, chemistry,
physics, art, design, philosophy, sociology and cultural anthropology.
In which career fields do you find more right-brained people? Consultants of
all types, philosophers, emergency room physicians, psychiatrists, artists,
writers, entertainers, musicians, composers, elementary and high school teachers
and coaches, actors, dancers, designers, interior decorators, counselors, chaplains,
public relations and marketing people, pediatricians and pediatric nurses.
Adapted from Wired by God: Empowering Your Teen for a Life of Passion and Purpose by Joe White with Larry Weeden, Copyright © 2004, Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
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