Medication-free ways to improve and maintain teen health include creating a supportive environment for your teen, and ensuring that he or she gets proper nutrition and plenty of sleep. Easy steps like these can prevent or ease many health problems like acne and depression. Numbers of new prescription treatments for acne represent major advances in the field of dermatology now available to parents and teens. Your face is the first thing others notice about you. Insecurity about it often leads to social anxiety and depression, especially in the finicky fishbowl of high school. A dermatologist can give your teen clear, healthy skin and renewed self-confidence. Insecurity for overweight teens, especially in the face of the mass media's obsession with the perfect body, often leads to serious depression and withdrawal. A little teen blues may be a normal reaction to social pressures and puberty hormones. Chronic depression should be evaluated by a doctor, to confirm that your teen isn't seriously depressed. Anti-depressant medications are available to be prescribed by your doctor, but educate yourself! Some medications can be unpredictable and have been linked to worsened teenage depression leading to suicide. Talk therapy is another helpful option.

Teen health problems can be destructive to self-esteem, often keeping young people from performing well in school. Guiding teens to focus on school and the future; and not so much on appearance, encourages realistic goal-setting and prevents unhealthy expectations. Parents' attention to teen health sets a standard. Showing you care about their health, both physical and emotional, motivates teens to care about it too! Society's future depends upon parents nurturing their children to give them roots and allowing teens to develop a confidence that will become their wings.