Why do teenagers think that adults know absolutely nothing about being a teen themselves?

Question

And that they don't give today's teens "enough credit"? Also they think that they are more mature as a whole than they really are, when the evidence is deadset against them. Granted there are teens who are more mature than most, but they are few and far between. Science has proven that the human brain does not fully mature until 25 so why try to prove otherwise when it clearly is not true?

Answer 1

the way i feel about this questions is if you adults want to use the excuse that " you were one teens too" then why act so mean towards your kids you know what hurt you and how things were in school but yet you continue to acct like teens have no problems of their own honestly if you can truly say i been there done that then make it show much more adults know how it is when it comes to s*x so why act so shocked when your kids are doing it its like the parents don't even try to talk to them about it and they have to learn on their own because the parents are scared and don't know how to bring it up and of course all of the "adults are going to give me a thumbs down because they don't want to hear th truth but its ok I'm a parent myself so oh well felt good to get that out

Answer 2

I think it's because we (yeah, I'm 14) just have such a narrow mindset about what we think is acceptable and half the time we're wrong... and it doesn't help when news reports say that some adults are actually afraid of teenagers.  It makes us think that they all are and that they don't understand us, so we can bully them.

sadly, we're all wrong... hah.

Answer 3

Are you honestly asking this question to get an answer, to understand a teenager better, or just to complain?

Answer 4

I think it's largely because teenagers don't like to hear the word "no" from their parents.  Even when the parents explain why they aren't allowing them to do something that they want to do, they still like to think that it's something personal, and that if Mom and Dad knew what it was like to be their age, they wouldn't be so strict.

Answer 5

we r and we r smarter if adult gave them credit they would be reling on that not drugs s*x

12 year old boi

Answer 6

Hormones and brain development. :P

Answer 7

Because our parents were not born in this century. So they don't know what problems we have to deal with.  

Answer 8

because plenty of parents have lost touch with what it's like being a teenager. I think plenty of parents don't understand why we feel they way we do.

Answer 9

The adults of today do not sit down and talk with their kids. I can't say I blame the adults completely. The hustle and bustle of the world today does not give people time to breathe let alone sit down and talk with their kids. Teenagers, at times, grow up on their own. They act as a sit in parent while their own work. The faster you are forced to grow up, the more you think you know.

I can say the same for some adults I know. It's not just the teenagers.

EDIT: The girl above me said basically what I was trying to say. I know parents who constantly begrade their children. We lose respect for people like that.

Answer 10

Hehehe....

Loved reading the answers, well worth the question just to see these answers.

The one boy who said teens are smarter, yet can't spell...

The one who claimed, "modern times" are different.  Which of course they are not.

fun question!

Answer 11

Some teen parents age gap is different from their child's, so their traditional values are not the same as this generation so most teens don't pay attention to it, because with some things they are not the same. But I think for a teen to mature they need to be able to make their own mistakes, and learn from them, but I do believe some teens are more mature then most people believe so it's based more on the child's values, and morals.

Answer 12

basically because they things that most teens do today in life they wasn't doing it....and if they were caught doing something that they had no business doing they would get in trouble by alot of people. but with teens like us in our life time we don't really get in trouble and some teens just say and do anything in front of grown-ups  

Answer 13

parents just don't know what its like being a teen TODAY. but its not like they were never teenagers.

Answer 14

Well, most parents don’t teach their children to respect their authority from an early age.  I’m appalled at the disrespect that’s often allowed in preschoolers, grade-schoolers, etc.  It’s not going to just go away.

Secondly, we have them spend the majority of their time hanging out with a bunch of people within a year of their age. This isn’t the case just in school, but in churches.  Outside of school time, a lot of time is spent just being around people their own age either informally or in activities. We (meaning our culture as a whole) gear them toward being peer-focused.

Answer 15

We know that our parents use to be teenagers like us, it's that we just don't care.

Answer 16

Because when adults talk down to you like you're an idiot, you will act out and do what you feel is best. I'm glad my parents never treated me like a little kid, now I'm a responsible college kid. Maybe parents shouldn't talk down to their kids, share an experience from your childhood and what happened during it.

Answer 17

Because you don't give us a reason to believe that you DO remember what it's like.

Instead of giving us advice, you yell at us for things like having s*x (s*x talk time?), drinking (your job to tell us about the dangers), or smoking (your job).

Granted, those ARE things to be yelled at for, but why not give us advice instead?