This week in class we were asked to read an article about parent-teen conflicts. It made me realize a lot about issues that blossom between teenagers and their parents; differences in society and economics have a huge impacts on relationships, parent-teen relationships specifically. Teens are expected to act more responsibly, more like an adult but they are treated like children more and more each day.
Back during our parents' generation, teenagers had specific places they could meet and hang out at. Teenagers these days don't really have that and the media portrays us as "troublemakers", so finding teens a place to hang out isn't really important to anyone. Also, back then, males could drop out of school during their teenage years and support their family while working a tough job with coworkers that were older than them. I work at a clothing store now and everyone who works there, besides the managers, are around my age. We are all asked to do easy work and I feel like not much is expected from us; it would be impossible for us to try supporting our families on that job and we don't really have anyone there to be our mentors. However, at my other job, I feel lucky to be the youngest worker there. I receive advice regularly from all my coworkers, even those that are only a few years older than me, and it's extremely helpful. I learn from their mistakes and I feel more comfortable making decisions on my own at college because of all the advice they have given me.
More teenagers should understand that our parents lived through a different era, where different things were expected of them and society labeled them differently. They had more mentors that helped them become adults, helped them become more independent. Hopefully, more teenagers can find these mentors and adjust to adulthood more comfortably.
Your work examples are a really good illustration at how jobs influence us as people. Today, kids mostly work with other kids their same age and I think its helpful to work with different age groups of people, both older and younger.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that we should be learning about adulthood from adults. If everyone were taking advice from their mentors, I'm sure it would help teens adjust to adulthood more easily and understand what is expected of them.
ReplyDeleteYour post was really insightful. I agree with how in past generations, teens were treated with more respect and given more responsibility where nowadays teens are just looked at as useless troublemakers.
ReplyDeleteour era is definitely different then what our parents lived through when they were young. I feel like technological advances like the internet have negatively impacted family life and created more conflict with parents.
ReplyDelete