Life as a Kid

Most adults I've met say that being a kid is great, because you don't have to pay rent, your food and facilities are free, you live in a carefree environment, and you can do basically whatever you want without too many consequences. However, I've found out that life as a kid really isn't that great. For one thing, you can't go anywhere without having to tell your parents, have them approve it, and then have them drive you or arrange another kind of transport. You have to eat whatever your parents tell you to eat, whether you want it or not, or go to sleep without food. You need to go to bed when they say, watch whatever movies they want to watch, and skip your favorite shows to put your sister to bed because your parents are "tired from work and want to put their feet up" (a.k.a. we're too lazy and we want you to do it, and we can take away your desert if you don't do it), or even just because they say "Because I said so!".

People say that you should enjoy your childhood while you can - what I want to know is, what is there to enjoy? You have to completely devote your lives to making your parents happy, or they will kick you out on the street, or paddle you. You have to do well in school, not get into fights, maintain good relations with the teachers, play sports if that's what your family is in to, and even get a job if your family's not that well off.

However, you are denied the rights stated in the American Constitution: you are not allowed free speech, as your parents monitor whatever you say; you can't pursue happiness, since your parents turn off your PS2 at 7:00 sharp; and apparently not all men (or women) are created equal, since we get bossed around all the time. People complain that their rights are being taken away when Homeland Security taps their phone lines; they can sue and get rich. When our parents listen to our phone associations, or interrogate us about friends or school can we sue?

To top it all off, we are not even able to support ourselves even if we wanted to. We get allowances that rely entirely on the mercy of our parents. If we try to start the old "lemonade stand" kind of company, our parents complain that we're blocking the driveway, using all the boards that they were going to use for the roof (which happens to be in perfect condition), and that we are going to get sunstroke and rush us inside to put on the smelliest sun block known to man. Assuming you even get any customers, the odor will make the lemonade taste horrible.

The child labor laws say that we can't get jobs. They say that it's to prevent us from being overworked by others. What if we want the jobs so we can get our own money? Is America truly free?