As a teenager, you begin to discover who you are or who you want to be. When you’re about 17 or 18, it’s time to start thinking about furthering your education, doing finals, getting ready for prom, etc. It’s your final year of high school. What people forget to think about is how far you go away for college and this new journey you are about to embark on is going to change the relationship between you and your parents.
I live with my mom and ever sine I hit the stages of young adulthood there has been ups and downs. People never want to admit it, but I think everyone has a time where they either rebel or just disagree with their parents which causes a lot of confrontation. It’s normal. My mother and I are pretty close, but when it comes to certain topics, we tend to get a little emotional and it starts an argument. No, I don’t literally argue back and forth with her, but we all know how parents are — no matter what age you are, your parents are going to think they’re right about 99.9 percent of the time. You’ll rarely get that satisfaction of knowing that you proved your parents wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I always have a voice but in the midst of an argument, my mother is not going to listen to me. Everything you say is an initiation of an argument even if it’s not. Again, it’s normal. I know I’m not the only person who has this problem.
Let’s fast forward. It’s your final year of high school and you’re about to branch off and try to find your new meaning and purpose in life. My mom has never driven me away from my dreams, but she did discourage me from going as far as I wanted to go. I soon learned that it was for my protection. She didn’t want me to have to go school so far and take out loans because we couldn’t afford to pay the fees of everything. Colleges literally make you pay for everything that I’m surprised we don’t pay for air! Parents do a lot of things, and we don’t know the importance of it until the time comes.
My first year of college is finally completed and no matter how much my mom and I stress communication it still lacks. It’s not on purpose, but I’m older now so those kinds of things happen. It’s normal. I still live with her so out of respect I still tell her where I’m going and when I’m coming back, but that’s just how she raised me.
Recently, we had an altercation which was actually just a result of miscommunication but, I figured out a way to at least try to correct it. I came up with the idea of a mother-daughter contract. It's a contract in which I write down things that I want to work on with my mom in order to build and strengthen our relationship. The older I get, the more I realize how much I need my mother in my life, so more than anything, I want to protect this relationship that we have. My mother accepted this contract, and now we are making so much progress with our relationship, and honestly I feel like we are closer than ever.
Realize that you are not always going to see eye to eye with your mom, but no matter what they usually have our best interest. So, listen to your mom, respect her, and never let your relationship die. Just like any relationship, it takes dedication, commitment and effort.
