"Peers: How they Affect Our Lives"

Essay by dms267hunCollege, UndergraduateA+, October 2006

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What do you mean I can't go? How can you ruin my life like that? I swear I'll never forgive you for this! I remember so clearly the anger I felt as an adolescent striving for my independence. I wanted so desperately to fit in -- yet not really knowing what was considered "in". All I knew was I wanted to spend less and less time with my parents and I couldn't get enough time with my peers. That really is an interesting word...peers...Who were they and what did they do for me?

Let me start with who they were. They were everything to me. They were my best of friends, my confidants, my source of energy, my happiness and my LIFE. My peers taught me so much about the social world, or what I actually believed as the social world back then. I remember my best friend, a peer of course, was always there for me.

As the conflicts continued between my parents and myself, she was there to take me in and console me. I practically lived at her house, thinking her mother was the coolest because my friend was allowed to do almost anything and never got yelled at. Through my peers I learned the styles of many things - dress, music, make-up, even haircuts. I remember how I was always borrowing my friends clothes to wear to school or out amongst my friends. Every piece of clothing my parents bought for me seemed to be ugly or just not "the in thing". My parents didn't understand these things and, of course, I felt they were too old fashion to even discuss any of it with them. I, also, considered them to be critical over what was the "style" of my days.

Another important aspect of...