Letter from a teenager: Help me out. What can I do to get my parent to understand me?

[Quicksilver]

A reprint but timely non the less. How True how true

What Teenagers Don’t Know

My parents are driving me crazy. I’m fifteen but they treat me like I’m ten. They act like I am incapable of doing anything right. Everything I do is wrong. All I ever hear is how when I’m their age I’ll see things differently and that I’m too young to understand. They don’t realize that the world has changed since they were my age. Kids know more at fifteen nowadays than eighteen years olds used to know. Help me out. What can I do to get them to understand me?

Frustrated Teen

Dear F.T.,
Don’t be too hard on your parents. While you may not agree with their approach I'm sure you realize that they have good intentions. The are a number of reasons they treat you as if you don’t know anything. They love you, they want to protect you, and, most of all, they realize that you don't know as much as you think you do.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that teens lack intelligence. Just because they can’t figure out how to properly wear baseball caps (hint: the bill goes to the front) or jeans (e.g., they should be worn around the waist, not around the thigs) doesn’t mean they aren’t bright. Intelligence, though, as I’ve discovered, is an overrated attribute. It’s not as if you can’t get a job without it (I'm living proof).

What is essential in life is wisdom. And that can only be acquired with age and experience. It’s sort of the consolation prize adults get for screwing up their lives. Your parents have gained wisdom while you, alas, are still lacking. It’s not that they don’t understand you. They understand more than you think. They’ve been in your shoes and have discovered that the dumbest statement in the English language is, “I have to learn for myself.”

Here is a preview of some of the things you’ll be learning after you finish that long slog through puberty:

You’ll be ashamed of how you used to dress -- You can’t look at old yearbook photos of your mom without laughing at her beehive hairdo, can you? Go take a look in the mirror. See that. Take a good look because that’s the hair style that your kids will be laughing about. Your parents at least have an advantage you don’t have. They realize both how silly they looked and how goofy you look now. And, unlike your generation, they will never have to explain that ugly scar caused by the infected nose ring.

You’ll become a Republican (for at least a day) -- In the near future you’ll get your first job. Soon after you’ll get your first paycheck and find that you only received half of what you thought you had earned. The other half will be given to some guy named FICA. From this experience you may acquire a lifelong hatred of taxes. And even if it doesn’t permanently affect your political views, it will have a significant impact. After all, even liberal Democrats itemize their deductions.

You’ll learn to appreciate country music -- Kids who grow up listening to rock or rap often believe that country musicians only sing about how the dog died, the truck broke down, and their woman ran off. That is, of course, a fairly accurate assessment of country music. But by the time you hit forty you’ll have had your share of dead dogs, dead batteries, and dead-end relationships. You’ll find that you can relate to this music better than you can songs about drinking champagne while driving in your Rolls and getting shot at by rival East Coast rappers.

You’ll find you never stop learning -- I’m 36. When I look back my life at age 25 I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. Of course when I was 25 I looked back at 18 and wondered how I ever survived being so stupid. The one constant in life -- other than that FICA guy -- is that you never stop learning. Somewhere an 87 year old man is saying to himself, “You know, when I was 65… I just didn’t have a clue.”