Assignment 1: what is an adolescent?

I still have not received my book. I will venture a one sentence definition of this word based on my knowledge having not read the chapter. Adolescence is the crashing intersection of childhood and adulthood that leaves an unpredictable combination of emotions and actions about all things and is an integral factor in the development of the adult.

I have an adolescent daughter now and at this point, the most striking thing I notice is how one moment she can behaving either very teen-ish and the next as needy as a three year old, clutching to her stuffed animals. These shifts happen without rhyme or reason. It has helped me realize that so many factors are in constant conflict within her and her main efforts each day are in balancing them.