You'Re Not the Boss of Me

You’re Not The Boss Of Me - Yvonne van Dongen
North & South

The magazine article from North & South called ‘You’re Not The Boss Of Me’ by Yvonne van Dongen is about teenagers and the question; are parents affecting the adolescence of today? It made me think about how shocking the new generation of teenagers are, and how parents may be more at fault than the teenager.

Teenagers have changed a lot over the ages. They seem to think they’re above everyone else and can do whatever they want. “The fact is, children and teenagers need big, grown-up, sometimes monstrously un-popular parents”. Teenagers seem to be getting more involved with drugs and alcohol at a younger age, and “those outside forces are more powerful than ever”. It gets you thinking, “where is the authority in society anywhere now?” This magazine article made me think whether I fit the replica in which Yvonne van Dongen was representing our youth as. I didn’t think so, I was actually shocked with some of the things teenagers got up to. It worries me that New Zealand’s standards are getting so bad, and this magazine article highlights the dangers our generation of teenagers are facing, and throwing themselves into.

“Instead of blaming the teens people began to ask, where are all the parents?” Adults seem to have the belief that “their teenagers won’t behave like those horrors down the road”, but that’s just wishful thinking. It’s teenage instinct to do reckless things. After all, as we develop, we get the urge to rebel. “Parents often don’t want to face what is happening”, but all this leads to, is teenagers running astray, and teenagers who don’t see what they’re doing wrong because their parents haven’t set them any boundaries. This article made me respect my parents for bringing me up with rules and boundaries because it’s made me a better, not-so-reckless teenager who respects her elders. It also gave me a better insight into what our parents have to cope with, and made me realise that by being strict, they’re only trying to look out for our well-beings. I feel the issue is that teenagers don’t seem to grasp the fact that parents are there for a reason. They’ve been there before, they know what’s right for us and they’ve only got our best interest in mind.

I would highly recommend the magazine article from North & South called ‘You’re Not The Boss Of Me’ by Yvonne van Dongen, to other year 12 students because it relates so perfectly to all possible teenager/parent issues. I found it very interesting and wrote about it with ease, and think others would as well. Being a teenager, I could easily express my point of view on the article which made it perfect to write about and comprehend.