Every teenager has heard it before, those two words uttered by an angry parent, sibling, teacher, adult. Grow up!
I’ve heard it said so many times that I guess I stopped thinking about what those words really meant But today it hit me how incredibly ridiculous that is to demand of a kid, of any age. Teenager or not.
I was in my pre-ap English class when I over heard this conversation between my teacher and a student. It went somewhat along the lines of this:
“You need to act your age and stop talking back to the other kids.”
“Excuse me Mrs, but I’ve never been my age before. How am I supposed to know how to act like a number? All fifteen year old kids don’t act the same. How am I supposed to know which one to act like?”
“It’s time for you to grow up!”
“But Mrs, I am growing up. Every second of every day I grow whether I like it or not.”
I just thought that I would share this with you, it’s important to me because I myself have thought along such lines before.
To whoever may be reading this: Please don’t tell teenagers to act like adults and insist on treating them like kids. Some of us may act younger than we are ‘supposed’ too but I think it’s natural for someone to want to hold on to something so happy and fun before we move on in life. But other people like myself feel like we already have. Grown up, that is… We feel older, smarter, more thoughtful than our age. Please respect this… Validate our opinions despite our age. ❤
“I’ve found that growing up mean being honest. About what I want. What I need. What I feel and most importantly of all, who I am.” – anonymous.
(Growing Alice.)
Lost Alice. 