What's going on in a young teenager's mind?

As parents we hope there is open communication, we know what our kids are going through, and that we have all the answers.  Honest thoughts from your kids might surprise you.  There are common themes over the years (I love my parents, they don't understand what I'm going through, etc.) but some will make you rethink your relationship between the parent and child.  I hope this creates an opportunity to communicate and understand each other better. 

"I wish my parents knew ____________________"

· I believe in myself.

· How much I love animals.

· That I’m scared and mean to people because almost everyone I’ve known is dead.

· How much I love my family.

· How good of parents they are.

· How not to be so strict.

· Sometimes they put too much stress on me.

· My dad to know I love him, he’s never really around.

· I might want to enlist into the army.

· Even though I get mad at them, I treasure every moment with them.

· I love dance more than anything.

· About video games.

· I “like” someone (and who it is).

· I am not perfect and I make mistakes.

· How much I miss my brother.

· I don’t want to be an architect.

· Everything at school socially is held up by a little twig and if you so much as breathe on it, it will crack and everything’s gone.

· I’m good at basketball.

· How grateful I am for everything.

· That my life hasn’t been good for a while.

· How I feel about moving and their decisions.

· How hard I work in school.

· I want them to help me.

· I love them and not to just abandon my sister, she needs help.

· I wish they were still together.

· There is more to life than politics.

· That when I have headphones on I can still hear the yelling and arguments, every word I can hear.

· That there’s a lot of pressure on me after my mom got hurt.

· How I feel when my sisters put me down.

· How stressed I am because of mom’s boyfriend and her always arguing.

· That I’m not the one that starts fights with my brother.

· That I will always love her, even if my dad left I will take care of her.

· My life isn’t the best life ever.

· I was the one who broke the mirror.

· That when I get upset and storm off that really I go to cry up in my room.

· More about what I’m doing in math so if I need help they would know what to do.

· When I get upset it might not be them, I probably had a bad day.

· That when I read I can’t remember what I read.

· People make mistakes and you can learn from them.

· I hate babies.

· The day I was born.

· Dad, thank you for working so hard for me and my sister to have a good life. Mom, thank you for caring for me and my sister for all this time.

· How to do math so they can help me.

· How much pressure they put on me in school.

· How I get really stressed out at school sometimes.

· How badly other students treated me in 4th grade.

· That I worry about me dad.

· How I feel when they say some things.

· That I want them back.

· That I’m trying hard in school.

· How much my knees hurt after practice.

· That I love them.

· I’ve never gotten truly mad at them.

· How hard it is to have homework from each class, study for three different tests, and get homework done in time.

· Me and my sister do get along.

· It’s hard to get good grade.

· I sometimes sneak downstairs at night and stay up till 1:00am on school days.

· I feel like they baby my little brother and they’re really tough on me.

· I stole candy when I was 5.

· It’s not always my fault.

· I have told them I’m fine when I’m not.

· How much I dislike school.

· I know they’re trying to get me to open up, but it won’t work.

· That I’m not always lazy and that they could see what I do at school.

· I’m not as smart as my sister.

· I try my best in school, and I don’t need more pressure on me.

· That I love them even though they yell at me a lot.

· That I have when my dad leaves every week for business trips.

· Through all the fighting I truly love them and could never ask for better people.

· That I play games that I can’t play at home.

· That complimenting me doesn’t make me feel better.

· That I loved them even though we fight sometimes and their divorced.

· I’m not my sister.

· More about what’s happening at school.

· I want my parents’ home all the time.

· I don’t say I love them enough.

· They did all they could to help me in everything I wanted to do.

· To know my feelings when I don’t want to express my feeling verbally.

· That I have an airsoft gun.

· I want them to have an amazing retirement.

· I have a lot of money that they don’t know about.

· I watched a sex video when I was in 3rd grade with my friend on accident.

· I’m doing okay, don’t worry about me.

· That I’m hopeful for them to beat their addictions.

· That I feel alone.

· That my sister is a brat behind their back.

· I want them around more.

· It’s going to be alright.

· That they are my role model.

· They’re awesome.

· I have a dream.

· I get stressed and it’s hard to focus.

· I want privacy and freedom.

· I hate letting them down.

· I want to move back home.

· That my brother tried to give me drugs.

· What’s going on in my head.

· That when they scream at me it doesn’t help my stress and makes me feel worse about myself.

· I did drugs.

· I do try.

· I can make my own choices.

· Just because I yell at them doesn’t mean I don’t love them.

· I have anxiety.

· I get bullied at school.

· That sometimes when they think they’re helping, they really aren’t.

· I want to be a professional artist.

· The amount of stress/anxiety I have.

· I hate washing dishes.

· That even though I say I have friends, in reality I don’t, I feel alone at school.

· I love them, even if they are always mad or are fighting.

· I love them so much but I wish they didn’t fight as much.

· That I love them, even if I’m not good enough.

· How much I mentally struggle and how my anxiety hurts me.

· I am always hungry.