My Experience Of Egocentrism

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Haven’t you heard the expression, trying to raise teenagers is like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree. In my experience that is somewhat true. I have one son who is 15 and so far has been very low maintenance. On the other hand, my 18 year old daughter is the opposite. She arrived out of the womb being extremely high maintenance. In saying that, my memories with adolescence cognitive egocentrism has made me think about teenager life when I was young compared to the here and now times of my kids. I will give some examples and explain my own experience with egocentrism. The first way egocentrism may manifest in a young person is by pseudo-stupidity, this to me, is when adolescent’s ignore the obvious and there inability to make correct choices. …show more content…

For instance, in girls they always think they have to look the part of “Beauty Queen”. For guys it is Mr. Macho or Mr. Universe. They feel like they have to look their absolute best at all times because if they don’t, no one will pay attention to them and everyone will be talking about them behind their backs about how they look. For example, I remember in my youth days that on Saturdays we always had to help our grandparents in the garden. I hated doing that, it was so hot and so many bugs and insects flying around my face. I was miserable on those days, but I also had to look my best in case some of the neighborhood boys would see me. I couldn’t just roll out of bed and throw on a baseball hat to go help pick vegetables. My hair had to be done just right or I couldn’t be seen. My parents and I would always have arguments about this because they knew as soon as I started working and sweating, my hair would be a mess. I laugh out loud now when I think back on those days and what my parents and other adults was thinking about me and how stupid my way of thinking was back …show more content…

With the new found freedom and ability to make decisions for themselves comes the frightening possibility that the choices and decisions they make is not the "right" one. I have to keep in mind prior to this time in their life I made most if not all decisions for my child. The teenagers know right from wrong and have been guided in the right direction so the question remains why can’t teenagers do what they know is right? The best way for me to think about my kids or any kids at this stage in their lives is to remember my own adolescence and be as patient and empathetic as possible. Remember how difficult it was for me and you to make decisions back

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