BRIDGE THE GAP

_Source
The two girls hurriedly walked into the restaurant, looking anxious. On seeing them, Paula got up from her seat and beckoned on them. When they came over, she hugged them so tightly that the girls looked at each other in amazement. They sat down, and Paula ordered for their favorite drinks. But when the drinks were brought, they just stared at them like they were afraid to touch them. "Mom, are you okay?"Eva, who happened to be the eldest, spoke before Paula could say anything.

Looking surprised, Paula replied, "I am. Why?"
Linda the youngest promptly replied, "You pulled us out of school before school was over, and brought us to this fancy restaurant. What's going on Mom?".
Paula sighed. "It's fine. I just needed tell you..." She was interrupted by Linda's sobbing.
"Mom, please tell me you are not sick"
"Come off it Linda," Paula said, giving her a side hug. "I'm not sick. I'm fine. This morning, my programme on radio made me realize something. I have been a parent to you but we're not friends. You don't share things with me, and I don't know how to get you yo open up. So I decided to ask you here in order to cement our friendship", she said, looking from one face to another.

Simultaneously, the girls arched their eyebrows in suprise. Looking at her for some seconds, Linda said without mincing words, "Mom, you're very cold!".
Paula smiled at her. "I'm curious mom," she continued. "What was your radio program all about?"
"It's a phone-in program called Things young people wish their parents knew.
"And how did your callers respond to the program?" Linda asked, wanting to know. Paula decided to play the recorded phone calls of the program she had on her cell phone to the two girls. The following were the responses of different callers.

"I wish my parents will understand that we are in a different age and time so they would stop making comparisons between the time they were kids and now, and stop saying things like 'When I was your age I did this I did that'. The girls chuckled and listened more intently.
"Believe it or not, we love and respect our parents. So they shouldn't take it personal when we act in a way they disapproved of sometimes. They shouldn't always be concerned about how our actions affect them. It's not always about them, you know? We grapple with lots of things ourselves and go through emotional traumas too."

"You don't have to breathe down my neck, stalk or monitor me just to ensure I do exactly as I'm told, or I don't do something stupid. Have a little faith in me to come through."
"A little privacy is not bad."
"Parents should listen more to their children"
"Parents should be honest enough to admit that they don't know it all. We might be very young, but there are some things we know that they don't have any clue about."
"Sometimes, corrections might be irritating, but we appreciate it."
"Dear paremts, who know you mean well, but sometimes your methods aren't ok."
"I don't have to see things the way you see them. At least, allow me to differ in thoughts or opinions. I have a right to my own mind."
"Respect my feelings. It's not cool to embarrass me in front of my friends. That's almost unforgivable."
At this point, Paula paused the phone's audio player, and asked her girls what their response would have been if they had aired their opinions.
"Well mom", Eva sighed, "Don't always overreact when we tell you something you seem to dislike."
Paula looked at her daughter in astonishment, "Do I always overreact?" she asked.
"Yes!" the girls spontaneously.
Really? Paula thought to herself. So this is why they clam up and refuse to tell me the personal stuff about themselves. At that moment, she decided to make the most of their discussion. "Fine! I'll no longer overreact to whatever you tell me, I promise," she said as if taking the boys scout oath.
The girls laughed and then opened up to her. Glad that she had established a good rapport with the girls, she promised to always spend time with them, so she can get to know them better and positively impact their lives.

_{Being a parent doesn't automatically confer on you the right to such confidence, you have to earn it. Teenagers and Youths are at the point in time of their lives where every decision they make has the ability to make or mare their future. This is the time they need elderly advice or insight. But when they have parents who hush them, make them feel inferior, nag and shout at every little thing - They can't open up and when they do something outrageous, they are blamed. It doesn't work that way.}

_{This post is dedicated to all the parents and kids who are in this conditions..}

@alisonudeme