Monika’s Pensieve

I found this really sad. My parents always trusted me and discussed things with me and I would have told them I’d tried drugs if I had. It really bothers me when parents show this sort of distrust towards their children :-/
If you talk to people in an accepting way there’s no need for this. I mean I’ve gotten this sort of info from teenagers I’ve tutored in English. It’s not that difficult, you just have to respect them and their opinions and you’ll find they talk very freely with you.
A mistake I think adults very often make is that they can’t accept the notion that they have anything to learn from kids. They think it’s them that can impart knowledge to people younger than them and not the other way round. That’s a very big mistake. The truth is adults don’t have all the info the kids have about what school life is like. I mean there’s only about 10 years difference between me and the teenagers I’ve taught and from the conversations I’ve had I know their school reality is very different to what mine was. How can you know what’s better for them if you don’t know what their reality now is like? You have to listen and learn. If you do they’ll be much more willing to listen and learn from you. And most of the time - if you do listen - you’ll find they’re already very street-wise and aren’t taking as many risks as you might think.