Teen Essay: A daughter who couldn’t ask for anything better

I am the daughter of a skateboarder and a photographer, a guitarist and a backpacker, a college dropout and a high school dropout, and I could not ask for anything better. Some students are predetermined to do well academically before they are even born - their parents being mathematicians or English professors or scientists - and are guided through life, following the achievements of their parents. Having a laid-back mother and father has allowed me to pave my own path in life. I have been guided only by my own desires to succeed.

I am the daughter of a hands-off parenting style. Both of my parents were “rebels” back in their day and would find it hypocritical to be stringent toward their own children. Rather than taking advantage of the freedom I am given to become a “rebel” of my own, I have used it to exhibit my responsibility. I thus grew up with a simple self-generated form of logic: if it is bad, I will not partake in it. One area in which this logic has sufficed is with swearing: When I was in third grade, I told myself that I would not swear. I didn’t think for how long or exactly why; my third-grade mind simply thought: Swearing is bad; I will not partake in it. Now, I continue to abstain from so-called “bad words.” At this point, I really have nothing against them and recognize their use can actually be beneficial in certain situations; yet, my third-grade self is holding me up to this standard to be as responsible as I can be. This may make me appear as a prude or a bore, yet I am quite the opposite, challenging myself to be different than others rather than trying to fit into a social mold.

I am the daughter of respect and perspective. My dad truly adores skateboarding and goes skating almost every weekend with his best friend. To kids at the skate park, he might seem like a washed-up old man trying to relive faded memories; however I know my dad as a hilarious, passionate and hardworking man who leaves for work at 5 in the morning and does not return until 7 in the evening to support our family. It’s impossible for me to “judge a book by its cover,” because my parents in no way match their perceived “covers.”

I am the daughter of two “do what you love”-ers. My parents introduced me to their loves; my mom’s being backpacking and photography and my dad’s being skateboarding and playing the guitar. And they encouraged me to find my own loves. Before high school, I found love in challenging myself academically and running. Thus, I was eager to join honors and AP courses and the cross-country team. I was never pressured to join either; I chose these paths because it was what I wanted to do: I love the movement of my hand over the paper as I solve a calculus problem as fast as I can; I love the burning of my calf muscles as I speed up a torturous hill; I love being assured that I am directed only by my own desires.

I am the daughter of two amazing, hardworking and creative people who have allowed me the freedom to become the best version of myself. They have shaped my dreams and aspirations in that I aspire to take life with ease and grace as they do.