It seems to be common knowledge to all teenagers--or possibly my single group of friends--that parents are inferior. "Parental units" do not understand their teenage children. Arguments tend to be constant; ways of accomplishing tasks belong on opposite ends of the universe; and music, clothing and hair styles are far fetched according to one while normal to the other (this is generational though). Why is this the case? It is probable that no one will be able to decipher a reasonable answer during this lifetime. However, I believe that certain traits are passed from parent to child that determine personality and character, rendering the two very similar. Therefore, like a magnet where similar ends repel each other, parent and child do the same, making their differences more prominent and ugly. A prime example of this theory is the relationship I maintain with my father.
Dad's background information is different than mine. He was born Donald Lee Beard in Independence, Missouri, on November tenth. His family eventually moved to Iowa and California before finally settling in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Las Vegas, Dad graduated from Clark High School. College was never on his list of priorities, so, as of yet, he has not received a degree of any kind. At the age of thirty-three, Lee met Peggy Ballard. They married after “getting into trouble” and raised three children. He is a typical father-figure in my life. He is hard-working, shares his passions with his three daughters, and is always ready to help with homework--even when he does not quite understand it himself. My sisters and I call him the Beard Family Fix-It-Man because that is exactly what he is in our house. He is the Savior-of-the-day when he stops the dishwasher from flooding the kitchen and/or kills the spider in the bathroom that causes more screaming than is necessary. After my parents divorced, Dad became a little more hands-on with girl necessities. He learned how to braid hair for school, make dinner so that we would actually eat it, and has been active in every school and extracurricular activity. However, every church related activity has been excluded from this list; my dad is not religious in any way.
I, Amanda Leigh Beard, was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April eleventh. I have lived in Boulder City my entire life and will be graduating in January 2010 from Boulder City High School. College has always been on my priority list. It has been a goal since I could walk, and I plan to carry through and earn a degree. Since I am only seventeen years old, I have not had the chance to meet the man of my dreams. When I do eventually get married and start a family, my goal is to make things last by not starting a life with someone because it is “the right thing to do.” The LDS religion is a very important in my life; it has helped me become the person I am today.
Even though our backgrounds are different in appearance, they share some similarities. My grandparents (Dad's parents) are divorced, so my dad understands the difficulties of having parents living in different homes. Neither of us get on well with our fathers and we both have a select group of friends that we are truly close to.
The list of traits that Dad and I share is a long one considering. I have inherited my dad's eyes, his temper, his stubbornness, his love of the outdoors and his sense of humor. When talking with a group of people, I am generally the only person who understands what Dad means and visa versa. Photography and art in general are passions that we have shared since day one.
Due to all of the similarities, Dad and I are able to tolerate each other to a large degree. We are so similar that we want to be exactly alike, so when the few differences show their faces, it is as if WWE or RAW were being held in our livingroom. The differences are huge, whether they need to be or not. This being the case, we blow them out of proportion. Two tempers combined with shared stubbornness do not allow the arguers to think rationally when both sides believe they are right. My theory, then, applies in its own way. We fit as hammer and nails just as we fight like cats and dogs.
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