A kid’s first role model is his or her parents. Some kids feel like they need to be just like their parents, and they that if they are not like their parents that it would disappoint them. Parents are a great role models because they know more than kids know. They have some of the answers to the future that kids may not be able to answer themselves. Looking up to parents benefits kids in many ways.

“I would love to be the woman that my mom is,” junior Ella Maggio said. “My mom is a great example for me and a role model for everyone. She went to college and is very successful now. She is caring, loving, and supportive of everything that my brother and I do, and that is all a child could ask for.”

Kids become their parents because they feel the need to be them. As kids grow older and older they try to become more and more like their parents. When kids become adolescents they start to do more actions that might be out of the norm for that age group. This is the start for them to take those next steps into becoming their parents. They may take actions like taking care of friends by cleaning up after them or taking care of siblings.

“I always cook for my brother and his friends or make sure he is like on the right track or if he needs anything I’ll pick him up,” Maggio said.

Parenthood comes naturally to kids because they have looked up to and learned from their parents their whole lives. For example parents take care of their kids when they are upset and make them feel better. Teenagers feel obligated to do the same thing and take care of their friends and sometimes it is not even their friend. There are different reasons why teens are upset it could be relationships at school that are not going well or they could be upset with family issues. Even though that friends do that for each other, parents are still always their for their child.

“My mom helps a lot,” junior Danielle Brose said. “Everytime she notices I’m dealing with something involving a friend she sits down and tries to help. She always will talk me through any problems I have with anyone and help me through them.”

Teens use the lessons they learned not just to help with siblings and friends, but use them to get a job. Some teenagers may babysit to get some money and it also benefits them. Babysitting can help a teen how to take care of kids, so later down the road they already have experience when they are taking care of their own kids.

“Babysitting has taught me a lot of ways to be more responsible with kids and has given me so much more experience with kids of all ages,” Brose said.

Teens also have friends that are the parents of the group, the one that always tries to take care of everyone even though that it is not their job. Adolescents have that one friend and that is one trait they love about them. Teens benefit from having a friend like that so they have a parent figure with them at all times. Some kids may even call them “mom” or “dad” because the friend is so much like a parent.

“I think being called a mom is a positive thing because it means that you are caring and loving,” Maggio said.

Although most kids want to grow up and be like their parents their are also kids who do not. Sometimes teens do not have the best parents because they do not show their kid enough attention or they treat them very poorly. Kids realize that and they do not want to carry on those values. That is when that one friend that is a parent figure can help that individual. That individual may learn as if they were his/her parent.

People become like their parent in some way, shape or form. The similarities may be minor or they may be major. Minor things could be a certain saying that they picked up from them over the years. Major ones might be the way they react to conflicts and to start to behave more like them. This can start at any age, it just depends on the person. As the years go on and kids become older, they start to recognize the traits or actions they share. Teens should embrace the new side of them that they would not have without their parents. Kids will become their parents one way or another and the cliché like father, like son becomes a reality.