Staff Writer Dalila Kahvedzic explores the challenges of travel when 18 and under
By: DALILA KAHVEDZIC
Staff Writer
Planning to vacation with a group of friends (and no parents) can be tough, especially when you are 18 or under. Sure you can use the whole “I’m eighteen and I don’t need your approval,” but in many households that just does not do the trick. In a recent student survey, thirteen 18-19 year old people asked their parents to go on a week-long trip to California, and only eight were given the hesitant “okay.”
So the question is: are parents being too lenient with their kids, or are they not being lenient enough? Of course every normal and loving parent would be scared of the “what if’s”…. What if they get into a car crash, what if they get robbed, what if they get kidnapped, but is this an overreaction? Are these just things they get from watching those crazy fictional Lifetime movies that are evidently way too unrealistic? Of course, kids think so because the goal is to have the time of our lives with best friends and explore new sights or just get away for awhile. It is not like those 18 and under want to run with open arms to a robber or purposely do something to harm themselves, which is what parents often make it seem like sometimes.
Then arises another question: What is the point of being young? Students are overwhelmed with trying their best in school and working countless hours at jobs and who knows what else, that they forget how to even enjoy themselves. They get so caught up in paying cell phone bills or filling up gas tanks that they are pushing themselves to adulthood and before long, five years just fly on by. Students only have a couple of years to be young and the rest of their lives to be adults. So to be fair, don’t we deserve a break? Don[t we deserve to look back on our teenage years and get to say “wow, I really enjoyed being a teenager,” before the stresses of adulthood start piling on. But unfortunately, students are often deemed “just kids” and told they “don’t know anything about the dangers of life” and that is the end of the conversation.
