Teen.

I love my baby brother; he is the sweetest, cutest, smartest 14 year old I know. Sadly around his friends, however, he turns into the biggest jerk 14 year old I know. While at home he is talkative and sweet, in public, should any of his friends or anyone around his age be around, he’ll suddenly slump over, shove his hands in his pockets, and transform into this stereotypical puberty/angst-ridden teenager that he is not. This is also over the phone, when he’ll suddenly stop talking and resort instead to curt single-word retorts like: “WHATEVER. STUPID” and I’ll know his friends are over and that any hopes for human conversation are now lost. It makes me sad that teenage social norm requires even the sweetest and smartest boys to act aloof, apathetic, insensitive, and angry in order to be labeled as “cool”, while boys who express emotion and talk in complete sentences are shunned. Alas, the least I can do is be understanding, having gone through them years myself, when it seems the worst possible advice anyone could ever give to sabotage your entire life in a single admonition is: “Be yourself”. Navigating life as a teen is hard, and I extend my love and support and cheers to every wonderful and amazing teen out there: You can do it!