Shopping, laughing over the phone, dressing in cool clothes, driving with the windows down and hanging out with friends without a care in the world were all things that I daydreamed a teenage life would be like.
However, that isn’t the case. Nowadays, children, specifically teenagers, are constantly being pressured about things they shouldn’t have to worry about until much later in adulthood.
Many of my fellow students already experience the weight of having a job, paying for themselves and the constant stress of worrying about money while balancing their life, school and extracurriculars.
While it is a good idea for kids to experience life through jobs or to understand the concept of money, the real issue comes from how far these parents take these expectations.
Parents might say that this is to prepare their children for the future or that they’re close to being adults anyway. But in truth, it’s stressful and it distracts us from the things that we should be doing, like being teens, having fun with friends and focusing on school.
I yearn to have a teenage life like those portrayed in movies, but it all seems impossible with these adult tasks thrown onto my plate. Somehow, I have to manage my schoolwork, a job and my life.
On the outside it looks like nothing. But really, the homework piles up, hours for work roll in and hangouts seem close to impossible to plan. It’s not because I don’t know how to manage my time, but it’s simply too much. There’s only so much a 17-year-old can do, even if I’m close to being 18 years old.
Many of my friends and peers have shared that they’re expected to pay for their own bills, find a job to pay for a car and have even been told they aren’t doing enough despite carrying two jobs on their back on top of maintaining good grades.
This all might seem dramatic or lazy because of how simple it sounds, but that’s far from the truth. It’s not that we can’t or don’t want to do it, but there’s just too much pressure on us to learn how to be an adult when we have our whole lives to learn.
Teenagers should be able to just focus on school to better our future instead of trying to experience what it’s like to be an adult to have a “better future.” There are classes and clubs students can take to learn and experience those things.
If a student wants to get a job or pay for their own things, that’s completely fine. But just don’t expect them to be able to keep up with it 24/7. Ultimately, there shouldn’t be too much pressure put onto teens because at the end of the day, we should be able to live out their teenage years.
