Living with your Parents and Living on your Own

Every person in this world has experienced living with his/her parents or with people who can be considered as parents for a certain period of time. And when a person becomes younger, his/her way of thinking and judgment of things will change dramatically due to a lot of attractions from friends, communication and the conditions surrounding him. Some will think that if they live on their own they can do whatever they want and whenever they want and make decisions freely without any advice. Others prefer completing their life with their parents. But in my opinion, both living with parents and living alone differ a lot when considering these three points: responsibility, reference and freedom.

When I was going to experience living on my own in the dorm, I was so excited and I was planning to go to Jordan, whereas my parents were in Abu Dhabi, my most important reason for this planning was to improve my personality, to be a sociable person and to be more responsible. The major whom I was going to study in Jordan is available in the UAE in Sharjah. I found it a chance to feel free and experience living without my parents. Then, I found that it is not easy to live alone because I was used to a specific style of living with my family. For example, a housemaid used to clean, a bus used to take me to school, mother used to wake me and my parents used to look after my health and studies. Whereas now, I am responsible to do all these.

Another important aspect is reference. When you experience a problem in social life or educational life, I think that you can't make a straight decision without listening to your parents' experiences and knowledge. However, you can make some decisions that can be right but you should not depend on your own decisions because whatever experiences and knowledge you have, you can't forget your parents who raise you to be their future and got as much experiences as anyone else.

In addition, freedom is the most important point. I experienced this with my parents; my parents were neither lenient nor free. For example, when I want to go with my friends to the mall or any where else, they should know the girls whom I am going to go with very well and know the place we are going, even when they are busy I suggest to take a taxi but they refuse, I think that’s good but I should be more responsible in this age. Of course freedom is not doing whatever you want, there must be some limits and I know that my parents are concerned about me but the conditions surrounding us can be good or bad. When I lived in the dorms I thought that I will be free. But unfortunately, the dorm rules are more strict than my parents so it does not make any difference for me, and even if I have the opportunity to go out with my friends and do whatever I want, I will do it with limits, this is what our parents and culture taught us. As my uncle always tells me: a rotten apple in a box damages all the apples in that box.

This is what I experienced and at the end I found that living on my own or living with my family has its advantages and disadvantages in dependability, suggestion and independence.