Our Families Help Us

After reading Hannah Rosin's article, it is very clear that socialization plays such a crucial role in the lives of children and teenagers. I think that all the aspects of socialization, especially those surrounding family, friends, and school played a role in why these kids took their own lives. These three important parts of life are mostly all of what children and teenagers know. It is a cycle that repeats itself for roughly 12 years before college comes along and breaks this cycle. How and where you are raised, where you attend school, and who you become friends with all matter in creating who we are.

School is centered around, even if it is not intended to, getting good grades. Yes, we are there to get an education, because it is illegal not too, and because it provides us with socialization. However, the way that schools are structured just makes kids focused on getting good grades and being a perfect student to please school, their parents, and eventually colleges. Creating this perfect image for everyone else can cause stress for any kid. Students will try to squeeze everything (3 meals a day, school, extracurriculars, family time, friend time, homework, and time for themselves) in a 24 hour day. This becomes overwhelmingly tiring and stressful just as Taylor Chiu told Rosin, 'I was exhausted to the bone...and I just couldn't make it slow down. (Rosin 2016).' Soon, kids become stuck in a routine of just getting through the day and not living. That's when they begin to suffer silently because as Rosin summarized from what Chiu had said, 'She didn't want to ask for a break... because people would just think she was lazy (Rosin 2016).' They feel that the only way out is to resort to taking their own lives. I think that the only way to address this is to bring more awareness to it. People do not want to accept the fact that teenagers and children are being overworked to the point of contemplating suicide; they just compare kids nowadays to themselves at that age. If we acknowledge it, we can change it.

Another aspect of this topic is our families. Our families raise us. They help us become who we are destined to be. Often times, they can unintentionally give unrealistic expectations for children and teenagers to achieve. These kids become so focused on what their parents want (or at least what they think their parents want) that they become less focused on themselves. As people in a structured society, we typically believe that nurturing and praising the good is the best way to raise children. We praise the good and criticize/complain about the bad. The only way to change children's views on what their parents really want for them is to, as Avi Assor says, '...be nice and warm also when our kids do not achieve and when they do not try hard to achieve (Rosin 2016).' In doing this, children will be able to be freer to make their own mistakes and take charge of their own decisions.

A decision to take your own life is definitely psychological (as mental illness can be genetic), but our social lives play a majority of the role. As we see from Cameron Lee's story, anyone can feel overwhelmed. Often, it is when someone's life seems perfect because they have the expectation to be perfect for everyone else's sake.

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