The bird needs to fly from the nest at one point, but how can he do that if he needs his mother’s support to guide him? If the bird has been following his mother’s rules for his whole life, then what happens when he has no rules to follow? The obedient fledgling will soon turn into a disoriented, lost mess of feathers. Every teen out there with possessive parents faces this problem; we’re all birds getting ready to leave the nest.
In my opinion, every teen has to defy their parents sometime or another. A little rebellion teaches independence. And no, that doesn’t mean I want you to go get a tattoo and hijack a car instead of going to school. I’m talking about making your own decisions and refusing their suggestions on which school to go to, which friends to have, or how dress. You may not make the perfect decisions in the beginning, but it goes without saying that mistakes just make room for improvement. The majority of parents’ rules are for your safety, so use common sense and follow the ones that ensure your viability.
I’ve never done anything that bad, and neither has my mom or dad, but the other people around me sure have. My brother has done some things that I’d rather not mention and appropriate for school, which also built upon me. Believe it or not I’ve even learned from his mistakes. But the story that both surprises and gives me hope is my uncle’s. My mom can’t remember it in detail, but one night, he decided he was going to sneak out. He slithered out the basement window into the cold, black night and off he was. Too bad he got caught and my grandpa nailed the window shut. Not I’m not sure that he learned from this mistake, because he still ended up doing all the unmentionable things that all teens do, but he grew up to become a wealthy, married, independent man. That’s where I get the hope for my brother. He went through a period of rebellion, only it was behind my parents’ backs. Well, like my uncle, he was caught and grounded for over a year. And he sure did learn his lesson. I saw a huge difference in his outlook on the kids he was hanging out with, and I have complete faith in his success. We all have no idea what’s going to happen to that one, but my mom always said he’d end up doing great things, and I believe that, too.
The teen stage is a critical time for personal development and a time to sort out your thoughts and take care of yourself. When you force the shape of this period into the guidelines of your parents, it fades away and slumps into dependence. Teens are required to make mistakes; it’s what we do. And believe me, I’ve made quite a few of them – and frankly, I’ve never repeated any of them. I can still remember crystal clear the first time I snuck out, swore online and had my parents find it, kicked the car door (more than once), and went through a goth phase; all of these which my parents either condoned or punished me for. And I’m only 13. The fact that I’ve done these things ensures that I’ll never do them again, so by defying my parents, I am building upon myself. If you always follow the rules, you’ll feel lost without them when it comes time to go off on your own.
