The 'terrible teens': understanding adolescent development is key to successful teen services.(Teenage Riot)

IF YOU'VE SPENT TIME IN A GROCERY OR RETAIL STORE, YOU'VE PROBABLY seen a two-year-old stomp his little feet, scream at the top of his hurgs, and lash out at whomever dares to stop his childish, embarrassing behavior.

If you've spent time in any place populated with teens, you've probably seen something very similar. Suddenly, the "terrible twos" have morphed into the "terrible teens."

It doesn't take someone with a degree in child development to know that tantrum-throwing toddlers are bearable simply because we understand that this behavior is part of the natural developmental process of growing up. Yet this same logic is rarely, if ever, applied to a …