Hey your only a teen but you should still talk to

a couseler about your feelings or maybe a close friend someone who is there for you when you need them ,well you need them now so what are waiting for.

validate their feelings. Don't try to minimize them.

Listen and say you're so sorry they are hurting. They don't need advice at that point, just someone to acknowledge their pain. They know it's not their last chance at love but it hurts so bad when you're a teenager, or a grown up for that matter! Just having an adult allow them to hurt without belittling them is the best thing you could possibly do.

Hailey;
My daughter is also a red headed English

teacher! She is also the only other person I know that would call someone "silly face!:) At least I think you're a redhead by the avtar?

I like what Julie said, I have three adult children

and boy do I know the drama you're talking about! Half my family are teachers also! As a teacher you're in a tough position of not being able to freely talk about a young person one way or the other, even if you know they might not be a great person to date. I like what Julie said, "Express sympathy and understanding." This way you are comforting them. You might try to also tell them that it's OK to hurt and I know it doesn't feel good right now but each day it will get better and better.

Oh dear, I'm almost sixty and I can remember sitting

through high school classes with a heart breaking one day, hoping the next, on cloud nine the next, doubting the next, happy again the next.....how on earth did any of us graduate? Classes were those interminable times between romances, weren't they? I remember walking down the hall, hoping against hope for that smile from someone. I remember absolute jealousy when I saw a happy couple, hand in hand, and total joy when I was 1/2 of a similar couple.

There's nothing that would have really helped me, I don't think! Judi was right in what she said about validating feelings and listening. Compliments helped me hold my head up a little when heartbreaks happened. They made me feel kind of snobby when I was already on top of the world though. Maybe I was more of a mess than other teens, but I doubt it. Some hide it really well and some don't.

I remember finding out, when I was on the committee for our ten year high school reunion, that one of the most popular girls in high school, who was also on the committee, had been jealous of me. We laughed, because I had been jealous of her, too!

No one is secure in high school. Encourage them, help them along a bit. There's really nothing more you can do.

Years later I was administrator of a small private school and we had teenagers and it was the same with them. Somehow we muddled through. Somehow algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry, world history, English, literature.....somehow something got through. But remembering how I was as a teenager, for the life of me I don't know how!

Keep that gorgeous smile, HaleyBob, and an upbeat personality. At least in YOUR class there will be someone smiling!

Living the life I did and seeing what I have seen, the main advice I would, and do, give any teen who asks, is to stay away from drugs, alcohol, body piercings, cigarettes and sex. There will be plenty of time later for any mistakes you can never undo. Give yourself the gift of you and don't ever let anyone take that away. It is yours to give, not someone's to take. Then they may get some heartbreaks, but at least, you will still have you. If we can get that message across along with a little algebra, chemistry, history and English, that is a tremendous thing.

The heartbreaks and cloud nines? They just have to be lived through.

Haileybob;
Your new avtar looks older. Maybe no one

will mistake you for a student now :-)

I'm sure that once again, I will have the wierd idea

here. I've always thought that relationships should be the most important course in high school.

They shouldn't bother to try to teach us anything else until we learn how to feel good about ourselves, and maybe a little bit stable. Now, perhaps this is asking too much for teenagers, but surely there is something we can do?

For me, being a teen was the most horrible time of my life. I was lonely, isolated, geeky, and clueless. Of course, I could say the same thing about me now, but who's complaining?

It would have been nice to have friends, especially girls, who I could have talked to, and talked about all the stuff that I was thinking about.

As someone else said, it's a wonder anyone graduates from high school, what with the way emotions are bouncing around. Well, why can't we acknowledge this? Why can't we deal with it? Why can't we have the kids talk about what's going on, only perhaps in a more constructive way? Why can't we figure out what they really want (maybe friendship? Maybe things to do that are meaningful? maybe meaningful relationships?) and work with them to help them develop more effective strategies to achieve their goals? Why do we have to ignore these issues, and leave it up to them?

Haleybob, I think it's wonderful that you're seeking strategies to work with teens on these issues. Good luck.

We don't have to ignore anything and because we remember

it so well ourselves we, as parents are in a great position to guide them all the way and try to make it as comfortable as possible as they find their way through this period of life.