"Teenagers are unfairly stereotyped." 'Lazy', 'rebellious', 'rude' and 'ignorant' - some of the many things I have heard assosiated with this generation of teenagers. The words that seem to pop into somebodies head or uttered under someone's breath when the mention of teenagers come into play. Why? Where has this stigma come from and why is deemed okay to promote? The bottom line is, all teenagers have fell accustomed to negative connotations which - as a teenager myself - I disagree with and know are not true. 

Of course we can be lazy, we can be impulsive, we can be argumentative, and most of all we can be emotionally unstable - but all jokes aside, so can anybody. At one point in our lives we can all express thse emotions; at the age of 5 when we want to be pushed around in our younger siblings buggy instead of walking, at 15 when we don't want to walk all the way upstairs to grab the phone charger or at 35, 40 or 50 when we don't want to cook dinner after a long day or make our bed. See, lazy. However this is not because we're at the age of 'adolescence' but rather we are experiencing a normal and validated human emotion, just like any of the emotions labelled as a teen stereotype. 

It is a difficult time at best for a teenager without the uphill battle of false critisisms being constantly thrown in our faces. Don't get me wrong, I am not eliminating these claims indefinately but rather raising awareness that not all teenagers should fall under one discrimanatory category and that we are so much more than these traits seemingly shared between society. At this time, people of the ages 13 to 18 are transitioning into adulthood and taking on an immense amount of responsibility and hardship in doing so. Therefore we do not need the extra put down of " I bet you guys can present a very good melancholic face" or "all you have to do this week is complete this one piece of homeowrk" (credit to my English teacher). Assumptions based on nothing more than a stereotype. 

Instead of these messages, teenagers should be recognised for all the accomplished and mature decisions lots of us choose to make. We should be more inclined to think about the diversity and creative strided teens contribute, about how they approach certain topics in a new fond way, how they are able to openely express themselves and how they hold so many abudantly valuable and distinct qualities that are often taken for granted. We hold alot of power and ability - that's what people are most afraid of!