I come from a big-ish family.
I have three siblings and am the youngest by quite a bit.
My brother is 12 years older than me, one sister is nine years older, and my other sister, who is closest to me in age, is seven years older than me.
So, of course, I’m the baby of the family.
Not only my immediate family, but on my dad’s side, I’m the youngest cousin.
To be honest, I loved it.
My mother always said she was surprised I ever learnt to walk because my siblings never put me down.
They were there for me my whole life, bringing me food, driving me around and considerably boosting my ego along the way.
Even now, I sometimes wonder if my sisters know my name — because they only ever call me by complimentary nicknames.
“Hey gorgeous”, “Thanks darling”, and any other compliment you can think of.
When I first entered my ‘adult job’, I remember thinking to myself, “This is it. I’m no longer a baby; I’m going to be respected as a fully grown adult.”
I wasn’t entirely wrong, but I wasn’t right either.
I am the youngest in the editorial office, but not by much. A matter of months, really.
For the most part, I am treated the same as my coworkers, but some days are better than others.
I’ll always be treated just a little bit differently.
I’ll be asked if I know about something “before my time” from the 1990s, as if my knowledge only begins at 2003.
I was once accused of not knowing what cash is. I constantly feel talked down to or dismissed because of my age.
People ask me, “What do you know? You’re only 20.”
I feel like it isn’t just a ‘me thing’, though. Whatever the youngest generation is, it’s the one everybody hates.
I remember it happening to millennials, who were accused of drinking only pumpkin spice lattes and putting their life savings into avocado on toast.
Then it went to my fellow members of Gen Z, who know only TikTok dances and being blue-haired leftists.
Now I’m seeing it with Gen Alpha, who can’t read or use a browser because all they know is how to use an iPad.
I may be biased, but I find it depressing that we discredit the young people in our community.
Aren’t these the best years of our lives?
Aren’t young people the future?
Why are we making kids, teens and young adults feel guilty for being young and then project labels of being ‘lazy’ or ‘unmotivated’ or ‘disrespectful’ on to them?
For me, it made me wish away my teenage years instead of allowing myself to revel in them and enjoy the latest trends and buy my $6 coffees.
I strived to be seen as an adult even when I wasn’t 18 yet.
Now that I’m here, I’m still being treated the same — and all for something I had no control over.
I wish I could go back to my teenage years; being treated the way I do now but without having to go to a nine-to-five, paying for my car and being stressed about the future.
I’m sorry to my younger self and wish I could tell her that being a teenage girl isn’t a bad thing and to enjoy it while she can.
I promise never to brush off a young person. They deserve more than that.
We all do.