PARENTING
TEENAGE VOICES WRITTEN BY JULIE BURTON
A
ll eyes are on the teenagers. They define the next generation of cool. Their styles sell, even if those styles are a repeat of your own youth. They’re going through a series of firsts that they’ll always remember—first car, first job, first date. Parents go from Mom and Dad to the annoyingly strict old people who pay for their housing and rent. “You wouldn’t understand” is a right of passage mumbled by every teenager. We gathered the kings and queens of cool and asked them for anonymous answers about what it’s like to be a teenager in this high tech, pandemic world. Their answers may surprise you.
|
SIMPLYkc MAGAZINE
|
JUNE 2021
“Some parents are strict. They think everyone on social media is a threat. That’s not true. It’s a part of our high school experience and our way of socializing. It’s our language.” Parents blowing risks out of proportion is a common theme with teenagers. “The risk of meeting strangers is overhyped as long as your kid knows the basic ‘stranger danger.’”
But not all teens use social media. If offered a million dollars
Every teen asked said they like their parents. Most parents are “chill” and “they’re cool when they’re not trying to be.”
to give up social media, some would take it because they’d still talk to their friends via texting or FaceTime. “I don’t share my entire life over social media. I can get celebrity news from Pinterest,” said one teen.
Social media, FaceTime, and texting are their forms of communication. We all had ways to
If given an opportunity to give parenting advice: Not all technology is good technology.
communicate with our friends during our childhood. Passing notes in class. Talking on the kitchen phone in the
Teens crave trust from their parents. They don’t want to earn their parents’ trust because they know they’re being
You’re cooler than you think.
34
pantry because the cord wouldn’t let you leave the room. Teenagers find ways to privately talk to each other outside of school. This generation of teenagers is no different.
