On any given day, it is inevitable to see parents being confident with their influence on child. Even though parents might seem influential since they live together in same house, it is a widespread misconception. On closer inspection, friends are the most significant factor in young adults' lives. The reason behind this is that they generally spend more time with their peers. Furthermore, same age groups have more similarities between themselves than their parents.
To start with, bulk of entire day is spent with peers in school rather than with their parents. In today's hectic lives, it is difficult for busy parents and studying teenagers to have memorable time even though they are family. In contrast to this, during entire school hours, friends can be a great influence on youths as parents cannot monitor their children. For example, according to recent study conducted by National Sociology Center, it was found out that youths are with their peers for nearly 15 hours a day, including time in school, academies and various clubs. Parents, however, only spend 5 hours with their kids, lessening the opportunities to strengthen a bond with each other and be of a considerable influence.
In addition to this, young adults are akin to each other in most aspects. They enjoy similar hobbies, worries and happiness. Never can parents be as close as friends who are great companions to each other. To illustrate this point, when I was in high school, I was in disaccordance with my parents because they did not acknowledge my favorite music genre, rock. Although I understand that jazz is more appealing to older generation, I could not help feel more comfortable with my classmates who are also great fan of rock bands. Then, we went to concert of a Muse, a famous rock band in England, which my parents hated a lot. Judging between friends and parents, I chose my peers because they are the ones who appreciated my hobbies in the first place, not my parents. This clearly shows the power that the same age group can put on each other.
In brief, teenagers tend to follow their friends more than parents, which results in friends being more important. Spending greater part of teenage days and maintaining stronger bonds thanks to various common characteristics contribute to this phenomenon. For parents to be as influential as their kids' mates, they should try hard to understand their beloved child more.
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