Teenagers may not be the most responsible group of people in the world. Though I am saying this at the risk of labeling and stereotyping people, I think it is true in many cases. I still remember being a teenager and how it felt back then. I had my sense of responsibility, no doubt about that, but the sense of adventure and being invincible oftentimes overwhelmed my sensibilities.
One of our readers sent in a link to a video on YouTube, suggesting that we take a look at it and see what we think. You know what? I got scared while watching the video. Maybe I am being the “paranoid mom” but watching that young girl lie to her mom over the phone and through text message just unnerved me. The video was short – it was actually an ad for Safeco Insurance – but it detailed how the teenaged girl told her mom that she and friends were going to rent a movie then go straight home to her friend’s house. As it turned out, she went to a party at someone else’s house.
Issues that I feel are important:
-not telling the truth or feeling that she had to hide her activities from her parents
–drinking when she had to drive home
-being pressured by her friend (who by the way was pushy).
I got scared because I would not want my teenager to act that way. I want my children to grow up as responsible human beings who will not feel the need to hide such things from their parents. I want my children to be able to realize what is right and wrong and to have their own mind. Tough, huh? But I think it’s every parent’s dream. The question is, how do you encourage responsibility in your children?
Originally posted on January 29, 2008 @ 8:27 am
