Impressionable Adolescents

Question

Do you feel that parents determine whether their teen is impressionable or not?

I feel they do. Say, for example, parents don't talk to their teens enough about how bad smoking is. Those teens are more likely to be affected by messages speaking of how cool or awesome smoking is.

I feel that the only reason teens are impressionable is because their parents make them impressionable.

I was never impressionable as a teen. No matter how many negative messages were blasted at me, I never let them affect me. If magazines, shows, and advertisements said that being anorexic is awesome and you're ugly if you're not, I just brushed it off my shoulder because I knew better than to let stuff like that bother me.

But my point is, teens aren't as impressionable as parents seem to think. Teens seem to only be impressionable when parents don't talk enough.

Answer 1

i disagree my mama smoke's and i will never never never never smoke and my mom never told me not to smoke .

Answer 2

Well its definitely a main factor, but some kids are just outta control. They want to experiment.  

Answer 3

Excellent point.

Answer 4

I am the same way, however, I believe what teenagers do--whether they're impressionable or not--stems from more than parents discussing certain issues with them. I think the first thing it has to with is the child realizing what is right and wrong. We don't have to have someone tell us that murder is wrong. It's a fact known to all, whether it's been discussed with you or not. These are things that are unquestionable--murder is wrong. No exceptions.

It has more to do with what they're shown rather than what they're told, I believe. My mother isn't the type of mom you can go to and discuss problems with without getting an answer that will p**s you off. But then again, I was never the type of person to discuss my problems with someone either. It worked. I'm not an impressionable teenager and I wasn't an impressionable child growing up either.

I question everything and it drives people nuts. If I don't get an answer that makes sense then I don't give a d**n about what you have to say or do. This wasn't something I was TAUGHT. It was just something in me. Something I was born with.

Even with parents discussing s*x, drugs and the dangers teenagers face today, they don't always leave their kids impervious. It mostly has to do with the teen and their personality. The environment. I absolutely believe a parent is the most influential person in a child's life and they have the biggest ability to protect them from these things, prepare them for these things. The child has to be receptive to them though.

It's less about TALK and more about action. My sisters were raised the same way I was, but some of them are more impressionable than the others. It's their personality. I believe that people are born impressionable. It's the circumstances that get thrown at them and how they receive them that determine how impressionable they stay.

Answer 5

I agree.

Thats also the reason we need s*x ed in schools.

because lots of parents don't talk to their kids about s*x, and it needs to be discussed.

Answer 6

I agree. I, for example, am not an impressionable teen. I listen to my parents who have talked to me about this stuff, and my friends are like me. It's also because we know what stupid decisions are and NOT to make them.

And then we laugh at the other kids in our school who make them. Well, they laugh, I roll my eyes... I know, it's not very nice. But, come on. Sometimes kids *can* be dumb. Some don't care. It's not that they're impressionable, they're just too dumb to care.

Answer 7

I agree. I'm fourteen and I hate it when other adults ask me if I listen to everything on Tv because it's 'cool', or ask me things like if I care what other people think... BUT usually most teens are desperately seeking to be accepted and be part of a group. It goes back to the old days of rejection = death. And kids aren't that much different from adults when it comes to this. Adults want to be accepted, too. They just do it in a different manner.

Answer 8

I have never really thought about that, but I see your point.

I think your right. I think encouragement is also a big factor, whether or not parents encourage them to confidence.

Answer 9

yeah, i agree, parents should "share their feelings" more.

Answer 10

that seems to make sense to me..

im 14 and im not impressionable at all. my parents were always very open about things...

Answer 11

I guess it depends. I know right from wrong. I make good choices. But I don't need my parents to tell me what is right and wrong, and to talk to me about it because I already know. There are horrible parents that have kids who grow up to be very wealthy and successful, and there are parents that really do well in telling their children right from wrong, and have religion and everything as an important part in their lives, and they have kids that break all the rules. I guess it depends family to family.

Answer 12

What you say is partially true, parents who talk to their kids do have less impressionable children, but kids are still kids and feel the need to fit in. I know that hormones kick in and play a big part in how kids adapt to the world.  

Answer 13

I would have to agree with you, communication is so important when you are a parent. But you have to let your kids make their own choices in life and hopefully you talked with them enough for them to be wise choices