Getting Along with Parents 169
- At your place of worship: Talk to your religious leader, youth group leader,
or other available adults. - Through friends: Talk to a friend’s parents, or ask your friends for mentor
recommendations. - Through mentoring organizations: Contact Big Brothers Big Sisters of
America, Boys & Girls Clubs, or the YMCA or YWCA. Your local phone book
should have listings for these organizations.
When you approach someone to be your mentor, you might say, “Things
aren’t going too well for me at home. Sometimes I feel like I just don’t have any-
one who really listens to me. I was wondering if it would be all right for me to
talk to you sometime in person or by phone.” If you’ve chosen the right person,
he/she will probably feel honored to be your mentor, because it really is an
honor for a caring adult to help a young person in this way. If the person doesn’t
have the time or seem interested, don’t give up. Keep looking until you find
someone who can be there for you.
INDEPENDENCE
Maybe your parents are doing an okay job, but you’re still having some prob-
lems with them. What are all the disagreements about? Usually, they’re about
the struggle for independence, something that each generation of teens goes
through. Now that you’re so close to becoming an adult, it may seem as if your
parents are trying to hold you back or treat you like a child. Of course, this
makes you struggle even harder.
You’re growing up fast, and as you near the “finish line” of childhood,
you’re probably starting to get antsy. Your parents realize that you want to be on
your own. And soon you will be. When you reach this point, your parents won’t
be parenting at such close range anymore (and they know it). They probably
figure that they’ve got only a few more years to make sure that you’ve really
heard and understood everything they’ve told you since you were little.