High School Chronicles: Family Matters

Although we are all raised by parents, guardians or father/mother figures, it seems to have become the trend that we begin to neglect or drift from parental relations once we enter high school, no matter how well our guardians have treated us. Call it the teen years or the rebellious adolescent era; it is inevitable that at some point, at the peak of puberty, parents become labeled as a nuisance by their budding children and can't seem to do anything right even when they mean well. It is natural to view your parents as socially inadequate or lacking the hip factor--we all want to appear cool and collected amidst our social circles and avoid having our reputations tainted by humiliating parental confrontations or conflicts. However, it is still important to give credibility to our parents for allowing us to reach the essential point in life where we stand-- the class of 2013 consists of juniors in high school with relative financial stability and freedom to drive along with a guaranteed college education, which is a substantial amount to be thankful for.

American adolescents in the past were expected to be family-oriented and have concrete duties within the familial structure. Family roadtrips, movie nights and outdoor activities were all the more common just a decade ago. However, with innovative technology that allows the younger generation to have more freedom, family has become a degraded priority within the teenaged mindset of today. But technology is not the only factor to be blamed. With the continuing instability of the economy, both parents in families are working full-time while kids are in school and continuing with after school activities, thus decreasing the family bonding time that can occur later in the day. Perhaps the limited time that families have to spend with each other contributes to the detached bonds that teenagers have with their parents during these modern times.

I feel fortunate to have a Dad that can support my family enough so that my Mom doesn't have to work--he also comes home every night by 7, which gives us enough time to have a meal together as a family every night. Although he travels quite often to foreign countries due to his career, when he is home, he never fails to join the family at the dinner table every night. It is interesting how a meal can connect family members--mid-afternoon bickerings clear up and all is serene with the clinking of forks and spoons (and, considering the Asian cuisine that is essential to my family's diet, chopsticks). In this respect, dinner has brought my family together and makes for a better familial relationship.

That isn't to say that dinner cleanses all potential hardships or conflicts--we still experience our fair share of family issues, as all families do. But it is essential to know that during arduous times amidst the adolescent years, parents exist for the purpose of support and comfort. The fact that we have more hormones or endorphins running through our bodies due to our age doesn't excuse us from maintaining comfortable relations with our parents or treating them with respect.

Although we may be old enough to drive at this age and get ourselves around through other modes of transportation, these new modes of transport available to us thanks to maturity does not mean an automatic ticket that dismisses us from family activities--in other words, it isn't embarrassing to be seen in public with your parents. I find myself going out to dinner or going on family roadtrips on weekends and think it acceptable. Even if I may have other "cooler" plans penciled into my schedule, family always comes first if the situation is important or meaningful. And even if we may not enjoy spending time with them, parents are elated with the prospect of spending time with their children. High school does give us a secret code of mysteriousness and independence, but we cannot cast aside our families after the support they have given us.

"Ohana means family. Family means never being left behind or forgotten, " as the wise words from Lilo & Stitch go. Fellow high schoolers, we must follow this philosophy and give credit to our parents for raising us so well, because after all these years of having our parents reach forward to give us brighter futures, it is time to acknowledge them and reach back.