It feels comfortable like this. I'd rather stay home and be a hermit. Then stop treating me like a baby. All of a sudden, accepting help from a parent is tantamount to being branded a baby. Such is the world of young adolescents as they struggle toward independence, the hallmark of this stage of life.
Parents wince at being rebuffed so often and so cavalierly.
Even though that wall of limits and boundaries is so important to young teens' development, parents often find it hard to be on the receiving end of a very persistent battering ram. Family conflict seems unavoidable, and the battlegrounds are endless. Kids challenge the most benign statements and requests as a way of asserting their independence, and minor skirmishes become the new way of life. As tiresome as this process can be, the goal that teens struggle toward is crucial. Achieving a measure of independence is the necessary prerequisite for adolescents to be able to do so many other critical things later in life.