“Start being responsible, you’re a grown up now!” or sometimes they say, “A car of your own? No way! Don’t even think of that. You are still a kid!”

Paradox, huhn? Well yes, this is exactly what we teens face every day, every time!

Welcome to our world – the world of a Teenager! Where you are supposed to be a kid and a grown-up at the same time, where you will face criticism every step, where you will be suppressed every time you try to prove why you are right, where your views and opinions are considered to be valueless and where you will feel lonely even when you are surrounded by tens of people!

There’s a lot more to it which only a teenager can understand.

However, there are some things which we would like the grown-ups to understand about us and those issues are discussed here.

First of all, it need to be made clear that we are neither kids nor grown-ups, we are ‘TEENAGERS’ and we must not be expected to be someone else!

Secondly, one must know that as we reach the age of puberty, due to biological reasons we often get hot-headed and this increases the tendency of us getting eager to prove ourselves right and get angry when this does not happen. And telling a teenager to stop arguing when actually what he/she was doing was simply to explain why he/she was right, proves to be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Grown-ups should understand that we teens are on our way to being an independent individual, and ipso facto we start to form our own opinions and views on various issues since teenage. Even if these opinions are irrational or unjustified, instead of ignoring them and considering them valueless, grown-ups must at least appreciate the fact that now even we are starting to form opinions of our own.

It is during this period that a person becomes more sensitive too. Teenagers get aware of the changes happening in and around them pretty fast. Also, though it may seem unrealistic, teens are mentally and emotionally more sound than they appear to be. They demand of things which are in accordance with their and their family’s financial conditions, their preferences and social norms. However, sometimes we do get swayed away by peer pressure, swashing by our friends, and emotions like jealousy, and then our demands might get unreasonable. In such cases, elders must try to explain “why” our demands are not justified, rather than simply stating that it is not right or it is not possible.

When the elders fail to the above-mentioned, teenagers start to feel neglected, uncared for, unloved, and most of all - lonely. They start to feel that no one understands them. And this often leads to psychological imbalance which may provoke teens to take up socially unacceptable practices like smoking, drinking and drug abuse, which will also have a negative impact on their health, both physical and mental.

Therefore, we teenagers wish that grown-ups be more open to us. We want that they remember the time when they were teens and then try to understand our situation by putting themselves in our shoes. If they do so, we will feel more comfortable to share our feelings, our problems, and our confusions with them, and this would lead to stronger bonds between us and a happier family. We want only this from their side, and we assure that we will be the best we can be.

Open up grown-ups, and you will all be more than satisfied with us…..