ENG 111-53
Mr.Blake
Essay #3, The Argument Essay: Final
Nov. 09, 2011
Successful Teens
The choices people make each day; result in consequences that shape them into who they are. So the earlier teens get to make their own decisions the better. Parents should allow their teens to decide for themselves at a young age so that they could learn from their mistakes. Of course parents should also supervise their teens, so that when things truly do get out of hand, they can be there to guide them towards the right direction. Allowing teens to make their own decisions early on in their lives is essential for their development in becoming independent and successful adults.
“Teens are capable of feats of learning and daring marvelous enough to make a grown-up weep with jealousy.” (Shute) Parents often underestimate their teenagers by thinking they don’t know better. They believe teens do not have enough experience in life to make their own decisions. Teens do not have enough experience to make good decisions but they will never gain any experience if they do not make decisions in the first place. There is no easier way to gain experience than to take risks and fail.
Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how old they are. Some mistakes are graver than others, but no matter how dramatic the consequences may be, people always learn from them. Allowing teens to make their own mistakes will make it possible for them to gain more knowledge and experience. “Parents should provide opportunities for kids to explore the world” (Kantrowitz), and by doing so their children will become more independent.
There is nothing worst than depending on someone. Independence is essential for someone’s success. What parents do not know is that “most adolescents begin psychosocial growth by distancing from their caregivers.” (Ford) Parents need to give teens their space. Parents need to understand that for a teen to succeed in life they need to go out into the real world. No matter how cruel and nasty it is out there.
There are a lot of nasty and harmful things in this world. “One of the most powerful factors in preventing teenage pregnancy, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and other seriously bad outcomes is by making sure teens spend time with responsible adults.” (Shute) By spending time with responsible adults, teens acquire good habits. Teenagers learn from what adult do, and not from what adults tell them to do.
Being concerned about teens getting into trouble even if they have good habits is completely normal and common. Parents fear that the consequences for the choices their teens make might be to harsh or even fatal. What parents have to understand is that “as children turn into adolescents they begin to think more like adults, applying logic and relativity” (Ford) Teens have the common sense of what’s safe and what’s not.
Some might disagree or even argue. If teens have common sense than why do they make so many dumb choices, and take stupid risks? Teenagers like to push boundaries. They want to discover themselves. “Teens hunger to establish their own identities, and do so by individualizing their opinions, ideas, and beliefs.” (Ford) This doesn’t mean there is nothing parents can do though. Parents can have an extreme impact on these opinions, ideas, and beliefs
People have no idea how much impact a parent can cause in a teens life “From the beginning children learn from their parents. Parents, as their children's first educators, are surely the most important. Parents themselves may not know how powerful their influence is” (Lerman) So if a teen were raised in a home with good morals, than a parent should have nothing to worry about.
So the bottom line is, adolescence is a crucial stage in a person’s life in which they learn with full capacity. “It is also a time when young people start questioning authority and exerting their independence, insisting they make their own decisions.” (Marcovitz) Understanding how teenagers mature can help parents guide their children towards the right path during this turbulent phase. Allowing teens to choose and decide for themselves early on in their lives will benefit them in the long run. They will become independent and prepared for the real world.
Work Sited
Ford, Jean. "EXTREME MINDS: Intellectual And Emotional Development." Right
On Schedule! A Teen's Guide To Growth & Development (2004): 30.
Points of View Reference Center. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
Kantrowitz, BarbaraSpringen, KarenScelfo, Julie. "A Peaceful Adolescence.
(Cover Story)." Newsweek 145.17 (2005): 58. Points of View Reference
Center. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
Lerman, Evelyn. "Teen Sex -- What's A Parent To Do?." Safer Sex: The New
Morality (2000): 67. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
Marcovitz, Hal. "Chapter 2: Helping Teens Make The Right Decisions." Teens &
Family Issues (2004): 6. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 8 Nov.
2011.
Shute, Nancy. "The Amazing Teen Brain." U.S. News & World Report 146.1
(2009): 37. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
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