Pubertät – muss das sein?

Puberty—does it have to be? Not only parents ask themselves, but also the pubescent adolescents themselves. What is it that makes this often unloved and problematic phase of life so indispensable? Part two of this article provides an explanation of this, which is intended to draw attention to the enormous potential that lies in this phase of life. Focusing on this potential opens up new perspectives not only for parents and pubescent adolescents themselves, but also for society as a whole. Understanding what makes this stage of life so essential and indispensable allows us to recognize what shapes and holds together a community. Then the conflicts inevitably associated with puberty can also be better mastered. Social learning, the “awakening” of emotional intelligence—the “social brain”, is the actual and most difficult process in the pubertal restructuring phase. Only in the community could and can Homo sapiens prevail against a dangerous environment. Cohesion, alliances, and cooperation are all strategies that run like a common thread through the history of mankind. In puberty as the 2nd birth—namely the “birth” of our emotional intelligence—lies the key to the development of the human being into a social being.