let me make my own mistakes!

while reading the article "putting teen-parent conflicts in perspective," i was amazed at how much it reminded me of my own life. the first thing that i totally related to was when the article said, "it's extremely difficult for parents today to look at a specific problem that they may have with their teenager...without seeing it as a sign of crisis..." my mom is a councler for teenagers with drug problems, so obviously she sees the signs of extreme drug use every day. i do not personally abuse drugs, but my mom is so used to looking for signs of drug use, she analyzes me constantly. for example, freshman and sophomore year, every single day after school, i came home and took a nap because i wasn't used to the tolls of high school. but junior year and this year, instead of napping after school, i go out with my friends mostly every day. but, a couple months ago i was really stressed out with school and work and i wasn't getting enough sleep, so i started napping after school again. my mom of course used her drug councling smarts to see this as a sign of extreme drug use, and started grilling me every time i walked into the house, analyzing every single thing i did and pointing it out as a sign of drug use. i understand that she was just worried about me, but i think that it's ridiculous that she would see me sleeping after school as a sign of drug use. she knows i don't get any sleep so it should make complete sense to her that i want to sleep after a long day of school. taking a nap in the middle of the day is not a sign of crisis, sorry mom.
another thing in my life that relates to the article is how my parents treat me differently because i have an older brother. since my brother messed up a lot when he was my age, my parents decide everything they allow me to do based on what he's done in the past, which i think is so unfair, because i am a completely different person. just because he acted a certain way while doing something doesn't mean if i go out and do that same thing i'm going to act the same way as him. even though we were raised by the same people, that does not make us the same person. i have my own brain.
i know my parents are a lot older than me and have been through a lot more in their lives, but they are who they are today because of the choices and mistakes they made when they were younger. so, instead of trying to protect me by not letting me live and experience things, good or bad, i wish they would just let me make my own mistakes!!

media minded

some people might deny it, because we have been so bombarded by the media ever since we were born that we don't even realize how it completely shapes our lives. but the truth is that while you might think you are thinking for yourself, you never really are. anything you ever know or think comes from something you've seen before, like an ad. one thing that the media affects dramatically is how women think of themselves. how often do you see ads with models who aren't like 5'7" and size 0? almost never, unless it's an ad for overweight people, or some kind of people that the media has taught us to think are inadequate. everything from clothing ads to food ads feature women who we are taught to see as "beautiful." so.. if you're not 5'7" and 100 pounds you're not beautiful? that's what the media is teaching women to think, and most likely why so many girls have eating disorders or other serious problems.
also, sal showed us that website with the photoshop horrors, showing how the media changes women who look like actual normal people to look absolutely perfect. changing every flaw even down to their belly buttons.. ? excessive?
people in the real world do notttt look like this!