by Rheagan Rizio

The teenage years are a period of great change, growth, and development. We are moving away from our close relationship with our parents and are moving more towards our peers for advice and feedback. It is easy to become frustrated with what can easily be perceived as our parents’ attempts to treat us like children, and easy to shut them out. However, it is important to try not to do this, and to give our parents the respect they deserve.

As teenagers, we are becoming more independent and trying to take more responsibility for our lives. We are close to becoming adults, and many of us are extremely excited to leave home and be on our own. However, it is important to remember that these transitional years mark great change for our parents as well. While we are becoming more independent and more self-reliant, our parents are learning to let us go and to let us be much more self-sufficient. During these years, it is easy for teenagers to become distant from their parents and push them away as much as possible. While it is important for us to be able to provide for ourselves and do things unaided, it is also important to remember not to dismiss our parents, and to try to maintain good relationships with them, because things that you do and say can be extremely hurtful, and can damage your relationship with your parents far into the future.

As difficult as it may be to accept, your parents know more than you do most the time. They have more life experience than you do, and have a different perspective much of the time. Also, they really do care about your well-being. It is often easy to dismiss what they have to say as them being “overprotective” or them “not understanding your situation.” But look at it from their perspective: they have taken care of you for your entire life and that’s about to end; it’s natural for them to want to hold on as long as they can. They probably do understand your situation; they may even have gone through the same things as teenagers and they don’t want you to make the same mistakes that they have made.

Your parents have raised you. Everything you have comes from them, and they deserve your respect. Don’t let your attempts to be more independent and take on more responsibility ruin your relationship with your parents. They love you, and genuinely care about you and your well-being, and as difficult as it may be to believe now, they really do want what is best for you. Remember that, and treat them accordingly.