American Creed; Teens Perspective

I believe parents and freedom are a large part of the American creed because parents teach us how to discover our full potential and freedoms. They help to bring us into the real world and prepare us to be on our own, exploring our rights and opportunities. The only issue is that some parents are better or worse than others at expressing how we can, and at what rate we explore our freedoms. Some children are introduced to their freedoms gradually and some are kept from these freedoms until they come of age (usually 18 or when they move out) and dive right into things.

When you are in the process of getting your license, there are classes you can take when your 14 called drivers ed. You are taught the rules of the road and get practice driving, gradually working up to getting your license. Well, some parents are hesitant about letting their kids explore the freedom of driving, so they hold them back

( which is entirely their choice). But when you turn 18 (implying you can make your own decisions) this is not the case, you may choose to avoid the classes and proceed to just pass a simple test resulting in an uneducated, possibly dangerous driver on the road.

My mother taught me responsibilities before she would give me freedoms because “With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” -Eleanor Roosevelt. I was told that I needed to get a job and start paying a portion of my car insurance in order to explore my freedom of having a car and a license. I was set on the American dream of exploring the world I live in, being able to go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. This led me to get my own job and earning money to pay for gas and insurance, including some extra money just in case something broke or I needed an oil change. I learned many responsibilities in the process where I could explore this freedom. These responsibilities will lead me to larger responsibilities down the road. For example, if I were to move out and get a house, there are house payments that need to be made and I must work to afford that house.

Although some parents might think that it is too early for their child to start driving (and they’re not alone), children are “young and dumb”. If you keep them cooped up and don't release freedoms to them they will not understand the responsibilities they must know for future reference. I believe children must learn themselves that actions have consequences and their parents should coach them.