17 Year Old Female: Mother-Daughter Relationship/Cheerleading/Friends
17 Year Old Female: Mother-Daughter Relationship/ Cheerleading/ Friends
This 17 year old female shares her experience with teenage life and a difficult situation with her best friend.
In this episode of A Teen’s Perspective, host Dr. RJ Jackson is helping parents see the future. In this episode, Dr. RJ interviews a 17-year-old high school senior, Time Jumper .
The conversation begins with RJ talking to Time Jumper about her family background. She has a mom, dad and a younger sister who is a sophomore in high school. She describes her upbringing in Iowa as very positive and happy. Things began to change, though, when she was in fourth grade and her family moved to Texas. Very shortly after moving to Texas, her mom sat her and her sister down and let them know that her parents would be getting divorced. Around this time, Time Jumper’s school had a program set up where they would pair at-risk elementary school students with high schoolers to invest in them. They called this the Pal Program. She describes the Pal Program as a very important aid during this hard time in her life, saying that she loved her “pal” and always looked forward to spending time with them. It was at this time in her life that a wedge began to form between her and her mom. She describes her mom as very uptight and says that she has a troubled relationship with her. Their relationship over the years has been defined by disagreements, frustrations and a lot of arguing. Many of their arguments come from Time Jumpe r seeing her mom as very overbearing and overprotective. This is further emphasized by her dad being much more laid back and carefree. Unfortunately, Time Jumper doesn’t see this relationship improving any time soon.
From here, the conversation shifts to Time Jumper’s experience cheerleading. She has been doing cheer since she was in sixth grade and describes it as one of her favorite parts of her life. In middle school, she remembered it being very fun and focused on friendships, but in high school, it became more competitive. The culture of competitiveness and favoritism in cheer led her to become disenchanted with something she used to love. As a middle schooler, she used to never understand why so many people left cheer as they entered high school, but she can relate now, as she has started to view it as a task rather than something she does for enjoyment. Luckily, a close relationship with a school guidance counselor has given her an outlet to vent about her frustrations with the cheer team and to talk about the future. Time Jumper has been accepted to college, and she is really excited about the opportunity to move away from home and have a new experience.
Following the conversation about cheer and school, RJ asks Time Jumper about the relationship she had with a close childhood friend. Growing up, she remembers the two spending every day together and always being around each other. Tension began to set into their relationship when her friend started dating someone. After hanging out with them a few times, Time Jumper started to get bad feelings about the boyfriend. At the same time she started noticing some red flags, her friend started to pull away from their relationship. Gradually, Time Jumper and her friend began to distance themselves from each other, leading to Time Jumper to find comfort in another group of friends. Even though it was hard for Time Jumper to have this separation from her best friend, she believes that it was the best for her emotional well-being. She feels a lot more supported, loved, and comforted in her new friend group. She’s excited to get a fresh start at her college where a lot of her friends will be attending with her. To end the show, she encourages teens to find good friends they can turn to in times of need.
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