Can we please just tell every middle schooler this instead of making them feel embarrassed by their existence and their need to try new things? It would be much nicer to hear this through middle school and high school than it is to hear about how dumb your phase or whatever is and how much you’ll regret it in a year.

God.  Yes.  This.  Stop telling kids they don’t know because they’re too young, that they’re wrong in the way they feel.  In reality, you don’t know how they feel, because we all feel differently about things.  And don’t forget, this was you when you were this age.  You didn’t know.  Stop acting like you knew what your life was going to be like at this point.  Stop acting like when you were that age you weren’t confused about something, or scared, or frustrated when someone told you, “you don’t know because you’re too young.”

I am so thankful I have the parents I do.  I was completely different from the people in my age group. I wasn’t interested in dating, I was interested in DBZ.  I didn’t want to go to the dance, I wanted to stay up and read fanfiction.  I had a great mom who got me that Nintendo 64.  I had a dad that let me play Mortal Kombat and realized that it wasn’t going to warp my mind.  I have parents who still have the crappy drawings of Goku that I did.  They watched me go to conventions in college and dress up like different characters, and they complimented me.  They spazzed over my art, they were happy when I said that I was going to conventions to try and sell it.  They’re reading my books as they come out and laughing over the geeky references.

They’re also fully prepare to dress up for my Mortal Kombat themed wedding in the future, in fact, my mother insisted.  My almost 60 year old mother wants to dress up for my Mortal Kombat wedding, wig and all.  I was thinking of having a geek wedding where the geeky references were hidden and my dad was like, “We already know it’s going to be nerdy.  So what.”  My mom, too.  So it’s fatality cake for all! 

My mother is such a good example on what to do when your child does something you don’t understand.  She doesn’t like anime, at all, she doesn’t get it.  And she’s not into video games either.  But you know what, she saw that I was, and she was like, “I don’t get it, but that’s your thing, so it’s o.k.”  She would get games for me, she would buy those DBZ tapes, she even tried to sit and watch some episodes with me.  The fact that she was trying for me and letting me do it even if she didn’t like it means the world to me.  My dad was the same way, we’d play Mortal Kombat together and he’d complain when I beat him, he sat and watched me try Metal Gear Solid and Dead or Alive.  It’s just the little things like this that mean the world to a kid.

And you know what?  I’ve never been happier.  I don’t think adults realize how important their opinion is to kids, even if kids are like, “Shut up I can do what I want,” or whatever, that parental unit is vital.  It’s so easy to break a kid down by bashing what they like and telling them they don’t understand because they’re just too young.  Teenage is such an important age period.  You’re developing, and feeling things, and you’re around a bunch of other people who are, too.  You’re trying to fit in when you don’t even know who you are yet.  There’s pressure all around you from friends, family, school, everywhere you go.  And let’s not even get into when you hit 16.  Suddenly, you need to start thinking about your future.  At 16.  ”College?  Job?  What career do you want?”  Career?  At 16 I wasn’t even sure what jeans I wanted to wear, let alone a career.  And it better be a career that makes you money, because if you say something else there’s a chance of getting a, “That’s not a real job” speech.  ”How are you going to support your family with that,” speech.  I’m 16 you just asked me what I wanted to do, so I turn to what I like: writing, drawing, whatever, and you say, “No that’s not a career.”  

You should never, ever listen to those people.  My mother told me over and over and over again to go into writing.  My dad wanted me to go into art.  They both wanted me to take on a creative field and I didn’t listen.  I was scared, you know, because, “Not a real job.”  I almost failed out of college until I finally, finally picked up Women’s Studies, ended up writing and reading and remembering how much I loved it in high school, then picked up Creative Writing.  Best decision I ever made.  But after graduation I ended up making the same mistake again, taking any job I could find because I needed money and the economy is bad you need a job now hurry up.  I stayed at GameStop for 6 years, thinking one day I’d become a manager.  Thank goodness for the review jobs I found on the side and fanfiction for having me keep up the writing, because as the job started to tank I started to write more.  Now I have a book out and my mom is like, “… I told you so.”  Yeah, she did.  And I didn’t listen because I was too busy listening to discouraging people.

Don’t.  Don’t do that, ever.  Like this post says, be who you are, and if you don’t know who that is that’s o.k.  You’re young, try things, always try things.  Never stop trying things, even when you get older.  Life is about trying things.  And, most importantly, have fun with it.