Daughter: ‘Oh nothing it’s just the fact that I think that I need some new gear because those trainers are so last week so what do you say mum because if I don’t get them I am going to be the laughing stock of my school.’
Mum: ‘Well I guess you can have them seeing as you have been well behaved both in school and at home, you’ve been cleaning the house an awful lot these days. but don’t think that I don’t know your tricks I know that after you’ve got what you want you will soon dessert all your good behaviour and return to your normally bad self but don’t worry I am anticipating that. Honestly, you kids today are so spoilt, in my days we had to work for whatever we wanted and even then, if our parents saw that the work was not sufficient for them to reward us we would not get what we want.’
Through this dialogue, we can see the manipulative ways that we teenagers can use to get our own way, there is many more such as throwing tantrums-diva style, claiming that our parents do not love us when we perfectly know that this is not true. This is also known as emotional blackmail.
Another good thing about being a teenager is the fact that there is so much energy in us; many adults these days are very remorseful about the fact that they just do not have the energy to the things that we do and take for granted.
However, the thing that I have personally enjoyed most about being a teenager is that I can do things that my mum and dad cannot do. For example if I get excited over a celebrity and star screaming my head off people would just see it as a teenage crush. However, if my mum did exactly the same thing people would be looking at her as if there is something wrong with her, someone might even say ‘that’s the sort of thing I expect from your daughter.’
There are many things that we may not find beneficial to us, like some of the school subjects we have to study. An example of the usual statement is ‘miss, I don’t see the point in me taking RE when it won’t do anything for my career as a beautician, as a matter of fact I am considering changing schools so I can concentrate on my future career.’
Sometimes my mum makes me come into the kitchen and watch her cook so that I can learn as well. Sometimes I do not see the point in it; I might be thinking something like ‘why should I have to learn how to cook when my brothers are busy playing play station 2 it is totally unfair’. In many countries today, girls usually have the bulk of the responsibility especially when it comes to housework.
What I have come to realise is that as time goes peer pressure just builds up. Some of the things we stress about now would not have meant a thing to many teenagers about 30 years ago a.k.a. our parents or grandparents. Peer pressure can be very dangerous. Teenagers begin to feel compelled to do things that they know are wrong like dabbling in drugs, which in turn may in lead them to take their lives.
For many teenagers it is sex and losing their virginity that becomes the primary thing in their lives. Apparently nowadays, if you are a virgin you are not cool and being cool is extremely necessary if you want to be popular. Teenagers will lie so that their peers will not find out that they are virgins, but in fact, in a group of 10 friends two might not be virgins.
A lot of anger is produced when there is peer pressure. This is because (as in most cases) parents will refuse to give in to the pleadings of teenagers to have their own way. For example, there might be an unsupervised pool party coming up in 2 weeks. The teenager has been invited and has asked their parent(s) if they can go but the answer was no. Usually the teenager might accuse the parents of being unfair but they might not realise the parent(s) have gone to unsupervised parties in their teenage years and know the dangers of them.
However, as much as there are sorrows in the teenage years there are as much joys. Some of which have been mentioned in some of the paragraphs above. However, are some I did not mention like, we can learn from the adults around us mistakes’. There are things that they did that as we grow older in life will learn not to make. In addition, we can get away with a lot of things for example, if we are rude to our teachers we might just get a warning but if adults are rude to their bosses they risk the sack...
Overall, everyone knows that the teenage years can be ones of difficulty and pleasure, love and hurt, anger and happiness and joys and sorrows. Through this piece of coursework, I hope to have been able to show you the different perspectives of being a teenager.
THE END
