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What do teens and their parents argue about? KANISHKO DAS takes an introspective look into parent-child relationships and their ambiguous, but sound logic

This question rings a bell somewhere in your head, doesn’t it? This is one of the many questions all children eventually and unfailingly asks their doting mothers, potentially making it the most asked question in a household.

It is painfully frustrating to hear a “NO!” when you know all your friends are going to the club to attend a birthday party or are getting the new iPhone. Sometimes it’s a “NO!” even before the complete request is made; as if mum doesn’t even care what it’s about. How could she possibly know what I’m asking for? And her judgement has to be upheld as if it is the ultimate decree. It feels so unfair to have all your desires and needs squashed in seconds. It’s like the inability to have a rational say in your own life! It’s like being in military school! On what does she base her judgements? Is it from her extensive real-time experience? Yeah right! “All she cares about is me being a stuffed-up geek, praised by teachers and neighbours!”, you might think. So you ask dad, who, as the “cool parent”, ends up protecting his holy image. And that brings me to the second most commonly asked question in the household, dad’s reply, “Why don’t you ask your mum? What does she have to say? I am totally with her on whatever she decides.”

Throughout childhood, due to some strange inexplicable phenomenon, mummy always tends to know that her kiddo is still hungry, while her kiddo’s stomach strongly revolts at any more food, as it is full to the brim. Historically it has never lead to an upset stomach, but has often left behind an upset kid. Some mums retain this habit even when their child becomes a young adult.

Jyotishko Das, a Uni-goer, reminisces about his experiences with his mum, interspersed with fits of laughter. The 21-year-old IBMer says, “From time immemorial, my mother has maintained that I don’t eat enough. Believe it or not, like even last night she called to check up on me and scolded me for not eating enough! I was left speechless.”

Exams are when a student runs through close to a thousand pages worth of information; they work hard for seemingly countless hours and run against time, their brain literally going into overdrive and stress levels breaching the tipping point. Deepra Sen, accountant and uni-student recounts how his mother visited him and still treated him like a child. He says, “Mum would wake me up early in the morning, reminding me of my coursework! Even as I brushed my teeth, she would say that I was taking up too much valuable time which could be otherwise wisely spent. Here I was thinking the prep leave was a time to catch up on some lost sleep - time to hit the hay! She treats me like a kid! It’s as if she can’t do without saying all this.”

Sometimes daddy dearest can entirely spoil the plot for his little girl much to her discontent. From making sure she doesn’t blend with the “wrong” crowd which happen to be the circle of her closest friends, to sometimes refusing to sit in the navigator’s seat as the instructor of his little L-plater. Surprisingly dad seems to know more about her friends that she does! Rupali Saxena*, a Uni student, explains, “My father never agrees to be my instructor for even a single driving lesson. He feels it would be safer if I learn to drive from professionals. Really, there is really no logic behind that; as FYI, he has been driving for the last 30 years! I wonder what the concern is all about!”

Then there’s that little issue of privacy, the one