Friends are Forever

          Your best friend is that one person that you would trust your life with. They are the rock you lean on when things go wrong and the string that let's you fly like a kite when things are going good. Your best friend is the person you shed tears with when you lose something you love and the person you laugh with until your stomach begins to hurt.
          As you go through school, you make friends from doing activities, being involved, and simply being in class together. I have a total of two friends who I have had since kindergarten that I completely trust and tell everything to. Lately a lot of things have been happening that have hindered the way I look at my friends.
Over the years I have learned that teenagers are mean and cruel. I have also learned that the ones you decide to trust the most, seem to be the ones who let you down the hardest. Unfortunately, you can only trust yourself. I can tell you first hand that it absolutely sucks when you lose a friend, but hey i guess if they think they're too good for you then they don't deserve to have a friend like you. The worst thing is when your so-called best friend continually ditches you for their boyfriend even when you know that they aren't good for each other.

          I can definitely say that at times I wish that I was a hermit who doesn't talk to any one and just goes about my own business. But at the same time, if I was a hermit, I wouldn't have ever met the greatest things that has ever happened to me; all the people I call my best friends. Without them i wouldn't be the person that i am today. Someone once told me that "Life puts obstacles in your way so that you can overcome them. The only way to face adversity is to look it in the face and tell it who's boss. People will put you down, but the ones who care will lift you up. Find those ones." This is definitely some of the best advice that i have ever received and I have now passed it onto you, my readers.

          

      

Overtalked, Undertaught

Abortions. A topic that comes up almost too often, but I don't think the argument of abortions will ever be resolved, especially not anytime soon. 
I would say there are pros and cons of both sides that can be argued forever. I believe there is special instances when abortions are okay. I don't think it is right to just not be smart about things, knowing that you could have an abortion as a back up plan. But I also don't think it's right to not have it as an option. 
One instance would be rape cases. That girl that got raped didn't ask for a child nor want to be in that situation in the first place, so why should she be forced to have one? Especially if she's not ready; that's not fair to either the mother nor the child. I also believe that young girls make mistakes, especially being a teenage girl myself, I realize this first hand. Why should one mistake define you for the rest of your life? If you are forced to have this child that you don't truly want, what kind of life is that going to be for not only you, but also the child? That's completely unfair on both ends. I don't like that some girls would use it as an excuse like. "Oh no worries, I can always get an abortion." But I also don't think that one mistake should define you for the rest of your life. 
The process to get an abortion should be long and difficult so that you learn from it and never want to have to go through it again. Along with that, information and knowledge should be given out about it so girls don't think they can just do it whenever they want and have it as a back-up plan if something were to happen unexpectedly.

Overprotective Parents

As a high school student I feel that parents, whether they be your parents or someone else's parents, I feel as though they are are always trying to get up into  your business and constantly want to know every thing that is going on with everyone. In other cases I feel like some people in today's society depend way too much on their parents and they do everything for them, and let me tell you, they're going to be in for a rude awakening when it comes time to go off for college. Depending on the way you're raised, it could have a lasting impact on the way you live your life, and I feel like it is negatively affecting the way that kids are growing up these days.

Helicopter parenting is exactly what was just described, and personally i feel has very few positive impacts on children. A research done showed that kids with helicopter parents were more engaged in learning and were more satisfied with their college. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, a social historian, who thinks helicopter parenting is okay states, “Over-parenting, is not letting our kids take the consequences of their actions, swooping down to rescue them, and the result would be a spoiled brat. But helicopter parenting is entirely different, and I think it is a positive style of child-rearing.”

Contrary to that Susan Newman, the author of “Nobody’s Baby Now: Reinventing Your Adult Relationship With Your Mother and Father,” indicated, “When parents are making decisions for their children all the time and protecting them, when they get out on their own they don’t know a thing about disappointment or failure.” This is a very true statement about many parents out there. They are afraid of watching their children fail so they are overprotective.

With parents being over protective, children have a lack of exposure to the real world. When kids have a lack of exposure, they are unable to develop the skills that I believe are very much needed as an adult in today society. Without making and learning form mistakes as a kid, when they get older how will they know weather or not the decision they are making is the right one? When a child is in a situation of having to make a decision, their parent should allow their kid to try and deal with it themselves before stepping in and taking charge. Parents think they are helping their kids by being nosey and trying to make all their decisions for them but in many cases they're actually doing the opposite. When their child get out into the world they won't be mentally tough because they have never experienced failure.

It has also been shown that Children of these so called 'helicopter parents' are more likely to appear “stuck up,” meaning they feel like they are better than everyone else. Parents have been found doing their kids projects, homework assignments and even writing college essays. Parents say they do this for their kids because they are embarrassed of their previous failures and want to show how good their kids really are. Not only is this wrong for a parent to do but I feel that it is totally unfair that a parent would do their kids homework and write essays for them because all the other kids out there are doing their own work and putting in way more effort then the child who isn't doing their work. I also feel that with parent doing this for their children their kid may grow up thinking that nothing is ever their fault because instead of making their child face challenging situations and deal with the consequences, they make it all better instead of letting them learn and grow from it.

I know it may be hard difficult to change parenting style after doing the same thing for multiple years in a row but know that everybody makes mistakes, and with making mistakes; it creates learning experiences for us kids. Next time your in a challenging situation, make your decisions on your own and don't go running to your mom and dad for the solution because once you graduate high school your on your own for making decisions.

Then and Now

It's come that time of year again where prom season is in pretty much full force. With girls looking for dresses, searching the most popular and best looking way to do their hair, and of course you can't forget the most important thing; a date--things can become quite stressful if I say so myself. Many girls think that they have rough because they have to find the perfect dress and all the guy has to do is find a matching tie to go under his tux. Which I totally agree with it being very difficult to find the prefect dress, it sure does take a lot of time and work to find it. But over the weekend, my family and I got into a conversation, and it came to my attention that the boys also have it a bit rough as well if you think about it.
My aunts and cousins who are all 20 or older were talking about the ways they got asked to prom, which was a simple, "Hey do you want to go to prom with me" while you passed each other in the hallway, which to me sounded EXTREMELY weird because now a days the guy is expected to ask their date in a super extravagant way. Weather it be in front of the whole school at a sporting event or using a drum line during passing time in the foyer. It's almost like a competition on who can have the best way of asking their date. I've heard stories of people saying no to their dates because they didn't ask them in a big enough or cool enough way, and they weren't going to say yes until they asked them in a better way.
Being a girl, of course I wouldn't want to just get asked in the hallway when everyone else was getting asked in super cute ways but I don't think that i would ever say no to someone just because they didn't ask me in a "cute" enough way. This all just makes me wonder if when our generation gets proposed to if they will do the traditional getting down on one knee and proposing or if people will start asking their fiacé in a super crazy big way.

Netflix: A Little Slice of Heaven

"Netflix: A Little Slice of Heaven" has been up and coming since 1997 being headquartered in Los Gatos, California. Netflix is the world’s leading internet television network with over 40 million members in over 40 different countries, viewing over one billion hours of their favorite TV shows and movies a month. These customers pay a monthly price giving them access to watch anywhere and anytime as they have internet connection. I think you could talk to almost every teenager and ask them their views and thoughts about Netflix and a majority of them would say it is one of the best things out there, and personally I would have to agree! Although yes, it isn't free (but let’s be honest what is free these days), it is definitely worth the low monthly fee!  Netflix has become a part of my daily life and I honestly have no clue what I would do without it, because boy does it have it all! Yes, I understand it doesn't have all the hot new movies, but if you actually take some time to look, there are PLENTY of extremely good TV shows and movies put on there. If you ever get bored and don't know what to watch pick up the remote and start scrolling, click on a random one, and your guaranteed to find something that is decently good! One of my biggest recommendations of TV shows to watch is One Tree Hill a.k.a OTH. I am currently watching it for the third time around and it is literally one of the best things out there! And no boys this isn't just a 'girl' show, I know plenty of guys that are addicted to it. Anyways, I won't go into too much detail, I'll save that for another day, but overall it has a very good story line to it and has some pretty attractive actors if I say so myself ;) It does become a bit predictable at the end but for the first about five seasons it keeps you on the edge of your seat with tons of twists and turns along the way. Not only is Netflix adult friendly, but it is also kid friendly. Netflix has a "Kids Only' section making it very easy for parents to find age appropriate shows for their kids without the hassle of having to flip through all the other movies just to find one that has content that is acceptable for their children. I have come to find this section also very useful for when I want to channel my inner kid self and watch some classic Hannah Montana.There are many good recommendations out there but a few that I have personally watched or heard are good are obviously One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, Prison Break, Breaking Bad, Revenge, Weeds, The Walking Dead, and many more! Some good sections to look for movies in are the thrillers and comedy. Netflix has something for just about everyone ranging from kids shows, to anime, to action, to comedy and thrillers, so go ahead try it out and if you don't like it well, might I mention you're a bit crazy! Grab a bowl of popcorn, sit down, relax, and ENJOY! :)

WARNING:Senioritis

Senioritis is something that I could say for a majority of us, is really hitting hard right about now. Which if I say so myself is probably not quite a good thing to be happening considering we still have over half of a school year to complete. But hey why wouldn't it, almost all of us have been accepted to colleges, applied for scholarships and worst of all started to give up.

Being a student who used to really enjoy school, it has been very apparent that me and many classmates are all suffering from a little bit of senioritis because it has become very hard to get myself motivated enough to get myself to get out of bed in the morning and get to school.

I'm not really sure if its because I dread having to get ready in the morning and having to see hundreds of immature underclassmen run around like wild Indians, who if I say so myself are EXTREMELY annoying. Like, yeah I get that I was in their shoes just 3 short years ago, but still I don't think I was ever THAT annoying, but i guess that's what comes with growing up!

One piece of advice i have even if im not taking my own advice is don't give up, and fall into the trap of senioritis. Yeah you may think you're too cool for school right now, but your aren't going to be too cool when your college that you've already been accepted to get your final transcript at the end of the year and sees that you slacked off at the end of the year, and suddenly they decide that they no longer have accepted you and you now have to spend your summer scurrying around trying to final a college that will accept me, TRUST ME doesn't sound like a very fun way to spend your first summer out of high school.



All Work No Play?

High school; the best four years and the worst four years. It is a journey, no matter how you look at it. I have very strong opinions on how high school, and life for that matter, should be looked at. No matter who you are, what friend group you have, what grades you get, what you like to do, school should be a FUN experience. You don’t have many years left in your life to be able to just have fun and not go to a job every day, all day.
So many people look at high school as a preparation for your future; as a time to crack down; a time where you’re predicting where the rest of your life will lead you. So many people think if you’re not a 4.0 GPA student, or an all-state athlete, then you’re screwing up. I hate the thoughts schools, parents, teachers, and society in general shove into our heads thinking we can never have fun. All work no play; trust me that is NOT the way.
These are four years where you can go find yourself; four years to find what your passionate about; four years to find something that makes you happy. Doing school work 24/7 isn’t what makes anyone happy, I guarantee it. I’m not saying to go out and party all the time. Wait, jk I am. HAVE FUN. You have the rest of your life to have responsibilities and be tied down with tons of work. This time, here and now, this is your chance to have crazy fun. Put yourself out there; do what you want; break the rules; be a rebel; DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY, because honestly, what else matters?
I think that you should do WHATEVER makes you happy. Don’t do things just because you think you have to. You only have ONE life. Love it how YOU want to. I hate when people take school so seriously and work way too hard, not having a social life or any fun along the way. How are you going to feel when you’re 50 and look back at our highschool/college years just to have memories of your head in your book and making flash cards all night. I understand wanting to work hard to get a good job and be successful but there’s a fine line between working hard and working too hard. I get good grades and take hard classes but I also am having the time of my life these years in high school. I would rather be semi successful with a ton of great memories than be super successful with nothing but money and brains. One days these are all just going to memories so let’s make them all worth remembering!