Attention all parents! Read this article and know if your parenting is going in the right direction or not!
Lines from a song from the movie, Sound Of Music befittingly highlight the existential angst and mood of today’s ‘know-it-all’ and ‘over smart’ teenagers. The lines go like this:
“You are sixteen going on seventeen
Baby, it’s time to think
Better beware, be canny and careful
Baby, you’re on the brink
You are sixteen going on seventeen
Fellows will fall in line
Eager young lads and rogues and cads
Will offer you food and wine
Totally unprepared are you
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared are you
Of things beyond your kin”
Now that you have hummed the song in your mind, let’s try to analyze the top 5 issues that are troubling today’s hormone-laden and ‘always rebellious’ teenagers.
Issue Number 1 – Fashion! I Need To Look Top-Class! Bole Toh Ekdum ‘Dhinchakk’
Apparently, thanks to massive online and e-commerce campaigns plaguing the Internet and the TV ads, teenagers find it highly essential to dress ‘tip-top’ and trendy even if it means breaking their parent’s bank balance!
Constantly styling their hair and looking endlessly into a mirror is now a distinguishing feature of these attention-craving teenagers. After all, impressing the opposite sex is high-priority now – who gives a damn about studies!
Being told to study is like an abuse from parents!
Issue Number 2 – I Don’t Have A GF\BF; My Life Is So Over! Ohh God, Why???!!!
How to ensnare a girl or a boy to become a probable partner is like the ‘in-thing’ nowadays.
Kids who are supposed to go to school and shoving their heads inside books are often caught practicing pickup lines and bunking classes to gawk at their ‘oh so lovely crush’. Flirting is considered an art and guys\girls who can’t do it are considered garbage.
Apparently, being single is a blatant crime and you just need to be with a person to be called ‘socially hip’.
Issue Number 3 – Party Toh Banti Hai!
‘Chaar bajj gaye lekin party abhi baaki hai’ and ‘Party yu hi chalegi!’ are like the anthems for these teenie weenies who find it absolutely heartbreaking not to have attended a party which has a lot of booze, chicks and arguably non-teenage stuff!
Parties are now less of a fun-event, but have turned into date-searching places for flirters and hopelessly single people.
Issue Number 4 – What is happening to my body?
Changes to one’s body due to adolescence and hormones spell out to be a nightmare for many teenagers. For guys, the waiting period to grow a respectable beard is like the ultimate goal in life. Some of them like to emulate shaving like their fathers and get scolded for trying it too early. LOL! 😛
The changes in voice from a squeaky-sounding rat to a growling bear also makes them feel like men. We feel sorry for the ones trapped in the ‘squeaky’ stage. 😛
Some guys just dream of having a body like Vin Diesel or Salman Khan. Studies? What the hell is that?!
For girls, growing long hair is like a dream come true. Waxing legs, wearing high-heeled shoes, visiting beauty parlors, hair salons, wearing mini-skirts and other bodily changes and attaining curves are like the next step to being called a ‘woman’ rather than a ‘chhutki’ or a ‘bacchi’.
For them, reaching adulthood in a few years is like attaining nirvana. Little do they know the harsh realities of life! :\
Issue Number 5 –Latest gadgets? I want!!!
A teenager of today’s generation is highly updatedtechnologically! Now,they even threaten to commit suicide if they don’t get their latest favorite mobile phone, tablet, bikes in case of guys and costly cosmetics in case of girls.
Showing off is like their dream and not being able to do it makes them dry and low – at least that’s what they think! To be a teenager today, flaunting what others don’t have is of prime importance.
Thanks to such tantrums, respect for parents has gone out of the window. Abuses are hurled at them and their decisions are challenged to try the ‘might is right’ formula. If parents interfere with what they are doing, they become sworn enemies forever. Breaking the shackles and going against a parent’s wish is considered being supreme! Hiding secrets is an alarming trend which is making these kids fall prey to bad activities.
Don’t get us wrong! There are plenty of kids who are well-behaved and orderly, yet they are falling prey to such thoughts unknowingly, trying to copy or impress someone and are turning into a menace!
