Nah, I don’t want to.

Well, it probably won’t be that fun, so I don’t think I’m going to go.

These are answers that many parents and people like me hear from other teenagers.  For some, it’s all about updating Facebook and sitting in their bedroom (which is really more like a dark, smelly cave), rather than going out.  What I don’t understand is why teenagers don’t live their life and enjoy it while they can.

Believe it or not, there are many things that you can do as a teenager that most adults don’t have the time or privilege to do.  Adults have to go to work, rush home to cook dinner for their family, pay bills, and then start the day all over again.  Before you get a full-time job and have to pay off the car, it makes sense to enjoy yourself while you can.

And then there’s the age old idea that you can’t go out with your parents because it’s ‘embarrassing.’  Forget whatever you’ve heard about that, because spending time with your parents could be one of the most rewarding things you do in your life.  Not only do you become closer, but you will make lots of memories together that you’ll remember forever.

The teenage years are what you’re going to look back on and remember the most.  Don’t look in your yearbooks when you’re 35 and wish you had done things differently.  Make your teenage years something to remember, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Go to prom even if you don’t have a date.  Take your little sister to the pool.  Don’t waste moments that could be fantastic if you just take on a different mindset.

I understand that we live in the social networking age and all that jazz, but I don’t want to remember my life as a computer screen.  I want to make my high school years as fulfilling as I possibly can.