The teenage tantrum saga

I know teenage tantrums all too well seeing as I was quite the drama queen back in my days. Every time I didn’t have my way, I felt betrayed and misunderstood. I thought my mum was a dictator and my sisters just plain nosey!I pulled all sorts of stunts; I slammed doors and screamed till my throat bled. I think I even assumed I was Ghandi, going on a hunger strike and assuming I was being driven to extreme measures by the insensitivity of the British Government – that would be my mum!My need to explore life with no restrictions turned me into a sulky, sullen teenager overnight. A rebel, they used to say! Why doesn’t anyone take me seriously? What about what I want? You are trying to ruin my life! These are just some of the questions I spat out during my peevishness. I hated being told I didn’t know what I wanted when I was already asking for it. Hello!!! If I’ve asked for it, or if I want to do it, then clearly I know what I want. Well – at least that is what I thought.As I grew older, I realised that the people I thought didn’t care about my feelings or what I wanted, were simply looking out for me. If they had given in to every whine and cry, I’d probably be so annoying, I wouldn’t be able to stand myself today! I was at the MTN Centre sometime back and I overheard these kids planning a trip to Nairobi. One of them insisted that if her parents so much as pointed out the dangers of travelling alone, she would have a fit! The other said her dad wouldn’t dare tell her not to go as she would threaten to run away and never come back.I’d like to think I was less dramatic but no. It’s just that as you grow older, you realize how ridiculous some of these things sound. Right now, I’m scared to travel to a foreign country just for the sake of partying especially alone or simply with a girl pal. I’d rather stick to the country where I feel safe or wait and travel with people I know will have my back. Back then however, I felt invincible and wouldn’t know danger if it was staring me in the face. To me, my mum and sisters were just paranoid and spoiling life for me! I felt they needed to get their own life and stay the hell out of mine.It was a phase I am so glad didn’t turn out to be deadly. Some kids make good on their threats and run away, most times ending up in a dumpster. Now, I see things a lot clearer. And if my ‘nosey’ family hadn’t intervened, I probably wouldn’t be writing this today. So, drop those tantrums down a notch…