Teenage Mythology, Part 2

I have to confess that I don’t even believe in teenagers.
Personally, I think the concept is a figment of the imagination, a purely American invention.
My perspective is simple really.
Take, for example, the way folks are made. You have people who are too young to reproduce, i.e. children. And you have people who have reached the age of reproduction, i.e. adults. So straightforward.
Of course, I have friends who think my theory is crazy; that teenagers do, in fact, exist.
One such friend is a physician who has explained to me on more than one occasion the complicated physiological experiences unique to those years, especially at puberty.
Okay, but I remain unconvinced.
So what if puberty is the first stage of adulthood and it is a transition? Don’t we all know children who are mature and adults who are immature?
To me, calling one set of the adult population teenagers, just perpetuates the myth that they are excused to be immature until they are twenty.
Is that really what we want?
The following is the other half of a list my daughter began brainstorming as she entered the teenage years herself. We’ve added to the list along the way as a family. The rest of this list is posted on my blog as Teenage Mythology, Part 1.
Here are a few more of the myths about teenagers folks tend to believe are true in American culture.
-Teenagers are subject to hormones.
-Teenagers need to spend time with their peers to develop social skills.
-Dating is necessary to find a spouse.
-If you make kissing a “no-no,” they’ll do it more; the implication being that your child will then progress to more serious sexual activities.
-Homeschoolers are more mature than other teenagers. Or, the corresponding myth, homeschoolers are socially backward.
-It is good for teenagers to be in the youth group at church.
-Those clothes, haircut, tattoo, piercing, are a little on the edge, but you have to pick your battles.
-If you keep teenagers busy enough, they won’t have time for trouble. Or, if they are in enough sports, they will be too tired for trouble.
Sometimes, when I share this list with grown-ups, they have a hard time believing that the myths are not true. All, I can say is that the best lies always have a little truth mixed in.
So, if you find yourself puzzled by something on this list, and you are one of those people who can’t stand an unsolved riddle, feel free to contact me. I never cared much for riddles.
On the other hand, for those of us faced with the responsibility of parenting teenage people, it is worth puzzling it out.
To me, the concept of teenagers is an idea that has done enough damage.
Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives and writes with a Texas twang. Comments are invited at http://checklistcharlie.blogspot.com or cathykrafve@gmail.com.