A commentary

MMH

Teenagers are often labeled as reckless and untamed—having rebellious thoughts and urges to do whatever they want, whenever they want. They tend to argue with their parents ceaselessly—and most of the time, these arguments happen during the summer break.

Summer is the time of year when we, being students, are finally free from stress and schoolwork before the first semester begins again. As teenagers—we think of it as being released back into the wild, where we could do all the things we want.

For adults and parents, though—summer is the time of year when they’d have to keep an even more watchful eye on their children—so as to not let them do reckless things over the summer. This is one of the annual common conflicts among parents and their teenagers; usually accompanied by shouting, crying and sulking.  There isn’t a common solution to this—but there are, however, two sides of the story;

First of all, our parents—being responsible for our actions, have the right to tell us what to do and what not to do. Somebody once said, that whatever we do would reflect on what our parents teach us. And it’s partly true—as it would reflect the kind of upbringing and attitude our parents imposed on us as we were growing up.

But they should also know that in these times, nothing can be avoided anymore. It’s normal for us teenagers to be curious, and to have the urge to try different things. They should remember that we are not animals—but we are wild by nature.

Adults—may they be parents or teachers, should remember that they, too, were teenagers. They probably went through the same thing that we are going through. It’s right for them to guide us so that we don’t make the same mistakes as they did, but they should also let us make mistakes of our own so that we’d learn from them.

It really isn’t long before we grow older and become occupied with work, among other things. Our ‘being reckless’ is just a phase—and pretty soon, we’d be more mature than we are now. Pretty soon, we would also forget how it would feel to be young.

Adults should let youngsters do what they want to do—with enough authority so that they do not hurt themselves, but enough freedom for them to learn on their own; because someday, the wild child within us would have to grow up.

(source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m677w8dPaC1rvbhdlo1_500.jpg)