How different students at AHS are quaranting with their parents
Michelle Fong
Broadcast Editor
There is sufficient data to prove that teenagers today have impressively moody attitudes due to hormonal shifts in their brains. This usually results in over-sensitivity, which is conceived as grumpiness or rudeness but is that always the case? Here is a hypothetical situation: So you take a moody teenager who already “hates” their parents combined with a forced quarantine at home with the rest of the nation. What do you think would eventually happen? Probably a lot of petty arguments and disagreements is my guess.
During a typical day when there were no orders to remain at home, teenagers would go to school and engage in extracurricular activities and parents would most likely be at work – both busy. The lack of social interaction with each other normalized by busy schedules have caused Sagel Provancher (10) to rarely get an opportunity to spend quality time with her parents.
“I barely saw [my parents] because I was busy most days with balancing cheer, work, and hanging out with my friends so I was never home. My parents were also busy anyways so even when I got home I don’t usually see them,” explained Provancher.
As time passed and their busy schedules remained consistent, it was inevitable that their demeanors adjusted to their distance relationship. Now that she has to stay home with her parents she feels that it is very difficult to have a day go by without any trivial disagreements.
“It is difficult to quarantine with them because we normally don’t spend that much time stuck together. We just argue about who forgot to do the chores and just basically everything is petty in my opinion,” described Provancher.
She wishes for her family to use quarantine to their advantage as a way for their family to mend the broken bonds that have been set in place before quarantine.
“At this point, we just need to learn to live together without fighting, because there is really no purpose of fighting since we live in the same house,” concludes Provancher.
Similar to Provancher, Savvy Giang (9) also experienced communication troubles with his family before quarantine regarding parental favoritism and quarantining is definitely not something he wants around for long.
“I am not very close with my sister. It just feels like another stranger or roommate that hasn’t introduced herself yet. We barely talk and even when we do speak, they were never real conversations,” recalls Giang.
Giang’s distant relationship with his younger sister rose as a result of what Giang asserts as favoritism, causing him to feel neglected in his family.
“My whole entire life has been an uneven scale of my parents favoring and taking my sister’s side. Ever since I was little my parents have been so much harsher and stricter towards me than to my sister. Their excuse was the age gap and how she was still young so I just dealt with it and waited until we were older,” explains Giang.
Giang’s parents have also set different standards and expectations for each of them which he believes is unfair. These set of guidelines apply before quarantine as well during and since they are confined in a house together, it makes their interactions so much more difficult.
“My parents still favor my sister in terms of things like chores, grades, and limits. When I was her age it was totally different. For example I was yelled at for going past bedtime but my parents wouldn’t even bother telling my sister to sleep on time. I was so mad every time my parents would let something my sister would slip through when I would do the same but get yelled at!” exclaims Giang.
Following the safety guidelines during COVID-19 are very important but sometimes spending so much time in the house with parents can be overwhelming and cause some people to have urges to go outside.
“I feel like I would want to leave the house when my parents are being too controlling over me. For example, my parents will always complain about my sleep schedule whether it’s getting too little or too much sleep,” says Giang.
“My parents would get on my case about sleeping, studying, and being productive so I just go on walks to clear my mind and spend quality time with my puppy,” recounts Aparajita Vemuri (12).
Similar to Vemuri, Nathan Chun (12) results in going on runs or working out when the tension builds up in the house.
“My mom would find fake Facebook posts and treat them like facts and I would try to debunk them, leading to arguments. My parents and I are too stubborn to change our minds and when this happens I usually just go on runs or workout,” explains Chun.
While being teenagers and confined at home with parents is stressful, these teenagers are hopeful that their relationships with their parents will improve in the future.
“I don’t necessarily desire an improvement to our relationship, because I’m okay with how it is right now, but it would be good to see a change. I would just want my parents to have the same circumstances against me as to my sister,” says Giang.
Eagle Era 