First of all, let me say I absolutely cannot stand the feeling of not being trusted. That’s a big one for me. I deem myself a very trustworthy individual and believe that once somebody has earned my trust then I will trust them until they prove they can no longer be trusted.
The subject of teenagers and trust came up over the weekend. A few individuals who have actually benefited from the actual experience of raising a teenager believe that teenagers are not to be trusted. Ever. Personally, I think that’s bogus and, as you already should have figured out by now, I will explain in great and glorious detail.
These individuals believe that teenagers should have no privacy nor have any rights. They should be monitored at all costs and you should absolutely never assume that they will ever tell the truth about anything. They believe that their internet should be monitored. That their cell phones have GPS enabled so the parent will know exactly where their child is at any given moment. They believe that you should always check up on the teen no matter where they are – because, again, they could get around the whole GPS by leaving their cell phone someplace. There are about a thousand different ways a teen can get around all these things and fool you into believing they are where they say they are - doing what they say they’re doing. And they can do all this because the teenager is always a lot smarter at technical gizmos than their adult parent counterpart. And, if you don’t believe me, just ask a teenager. They know everything!
Human beings have a very basic need to be trusted. Because, really, how can you first learn to trust if you cannot be trusted yourself? Sure, all of these monitoring things all sound great because we all know they’re smug little shits that always lie anyway, right? Personally, I don’t know why you guys even let them loose at all. I think once they hit the age of 12 they should be locked up and not released until their 24th birthday.
Actually, no, I don’t believe that at all. I prefer a much more traditional approach. I only have my own teen years and how my parents handled it to guage this by, since I do not have the benefit of owning my own teenager. My parents trusted their own parenting skills and figured by the time I was 16 years old that they’ve taught me about all they can teach me and the rest is up to me. Maybe that’s the problem today. People no longer trust their own parenting skills and figure that they have to be doing a shitty job since they’re never around anymore to actually do it themselves.
Yea, I know, this is all so simple to me, since I don’t have kids. But, I know what it’s like to be treated like a child – as a 43 year old adult. It happens every morning when I go to work. I come in an hour earlier than I used to so I can leave an hour earlier. So, now, my boss ALSO comes in an hour earlier and is in the office when I get here. Do you really think it’s because he has more work to do now? Could be. But, I think I’m like the proverbial teenager that can’t be trusted to be here when I say I’m going to be here and might LIE and say that I was here earlier and could actually come in late. Who would know right? And, even as adults we still can’t be trusted. It’s a fucked up world out there.
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