Fables

I had a friend in high school who honestly believed he would not live past 40. So this idea of the invincibility fable that Berger (2011) talks about was especially interesting to me. Berger (2011) describes the personal fable as an adolescent's belief that he or she is destined to have a "heroic, fables, even legendary, life." This is exactly what my friend believed. If you'd ask him, he'd have no explanation for why he was so sure of this, he say "I just know." And, just as the text explains, it often goes hand in hand with invincibility. This is because the person starts to believe that he or she is basically unharmed by activities that are risky to others. For him, he did not see any consequences unfolding for himself that would be detrimental because, ultimately, he was going to die young anyway. What was the difference in a couple years? And, to him, what was the worst that could happen to him? Addiction...? That wouldn't matter because he was going to die. Being a teenage parent..? His mom was one and he was raised by her anyway and never knew his dad. In the example I described earlier, this friend of mine got into pretty dangerous drugs, was constantly getting in trouble with the local police in our town, and lived a life that was viewed as pretty crazy by most of our peer group. Drugs, unprotected sex, and extreme risk taking behaviors.

One thing I did think about when reading the text and thinking about this friend of mine is that I wonder how much parenting plays into these thoughts and actions. In this case, this friend had a mother who's parenting style was what I would call neglectful. She was present as a friend and available emotionally, but had basically no rules established for her kids to abide by. She often just wasn't there and kids were "partying" in her house constantly. She often did not know the whereabouts of her kids. So, I wonder if parenting style can affect a kid's thought process as far as fables go in adolescence...?