It’s important to remember that families can be made up of relatives, friends, and any other caregiver.Ĭhild abuse is when someone who is supposed to take care of you intentionally hurts you physically, sexually, or emotionally. Having a different living situation or family structure than your peers can bring up feelings of stress, anxiety, shame, or uncertainty. Maybe your family looks different than the “mom, dad, kids” stereotype. Being on high alert all the time is exhausting and can take a toll on your mental health. When your family is having money trouble, you don’t have enough food, you don’t have a stable place to live, or a family member has health issues, you may find that you’re constantly worried. Sometimes young people have very adult problems. In some cases, this can escalate to bullying, verbal and emotional abuse, or even physical abuse. This often means you can’t talk to your parents or siblings about the challenges you face in your day-to-day life, and you may even feel like who you are is wrong. Whether it’s because of your sexuality, gender expression, interests, style, or something else, feeling like your family doesn’t love the real you is painful. Unfortunately, too many young people live with parents and families that aren’t accepting of who they are. When you have more responsibilities than your friends, it can seem unfair and leave you feeling like you are missing out on the fun social things other people your age are doing or desperate for some downtime for yourself – which are valid feelings. Maybe it’s a vigorous schedule of sports and other extracurriculars, or it could be having to take care of chores and siblings while working part-time – or trying to balance all of the above. There might be cultural differences at play too – depending on if and when your parents immigrated to the United States from another country, you might be having an American childhood that is totally unfamiliar to them.ĭepending on interests, family relationships, and privilege, you and your peers likely have lots of different responsibilities. And while some parts of growing up never change, there are many things about your youth that are very different from when your parents were young. Adults and young people have different priorities, so what’s important to your parents might not make sense to you, and vice versa. Or maybe you feel completely disconnected from your parents and wish they were a bigger part of your life. You may find yourself butting heads with your parents as you try to gain more independence. What are your peers struggling with at home? No matter what’s making life difficult at home for you right now, your feelings about it are valid. Maybe you’re even feeling guilty for feeling this way because you suspect that some of your peers “have it worse.” But that doesn’t make your challenges any less big to you, and you’re the one who has to deal with them. Growing up isn’t easy and feeling sad or uncomfortable at home can add stress to other challenges you might be facing, like troubles with school and friends. Everyone’s home life is different, and no one's is perfect.
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