Being a teenager is worse than living through war. Your body is changing at an alarming rate, your friends are suddenly mean to you, your parents are the most embarrassing people in the world and you have to live with them, and no one in authority seems to understand or hear you. Acne, crushes, fashion mishaps. And the worst part of all is that the only way out is through. Keeping your eye on the horizon of adulthood helps to make the time pass by, but there are times when everyone is telling you no, and you just can’t figure out why. Sixteen is practically legal adulthood, so why can’t anyone treat you like one?!

If you’re reading this and your teenage years have already come and gone, it isn’t hard to remember the feeling. And yet, as we look back on those moments when we felt like we were adulthood enough to be in the situation everyone was telling us not to be in, we are grateful now for the protection we received at the time. One mom is trying to explain this exact thing to her teenage daughter when her daughter asked to go on spring break alone, and the mom told her she wasn’t allowed.