We had visitors the other day. One of their boys is around 13. And I must say that day was one of the best days of his life, simply because he felt independent. What made me wanna write about him was the term independence from teenagers’ point of view, which reminded me of myself. How innocent they are in this age that by being home alone for a while makes them feel as independent grown ups.
Anyway back to my story, the parents were helping us hang some things on the wall in our home and the father needed a certain tool that was in the car. So he asked his boy to go and get it for him, and ofcourse e gave him the car keys.I cant forget the smile on his face as he went downstairs. Getting the lift, opening the car, looking for the tool and then locking the car doors again, getting the lift once more and finally reaching our home. All of this “responsibility” and “ALONE”. One can tell from the look of his face that he was the happiest ever.
I remembered how happy I got when I was 7 or 8 and took care of my younger sister and brother for 15 minutes while my mother went out with my dad for an urgent thing. Or when my brother felt so grown up when he was left in dad’soffice while dad was in a meeting.
A lot of lovely situations that forces me to be happy everytime i remember them. That doesn’t mean all teenagers feel independent in the same way though.
There are alot of them who wont feel indipendent unless they light a cigarette or drink a glass of wine or run away from home, steal or do anything wrong in our opinion but free and responsible in their opinion.
What I keep on praying for everday is that the new generation wont lose the innocence in them and that there will still be a day when those simple little situations might succeed in giving them the right feelings in the right time and the right way.