Arab Parents

My experience with my Arab parents in one image

Growing up in America with Arab parents is, well, certainly an interesting experience. From a young age, I've been raised to have different values and mindsets than my American peers. My mom always reminded me not to forget about my culture, faith, or where I came from. Of course, I completely understood where she was coming from, seeing so many people from so many different cultures completely letting go of their background, and even feeling ashamed of it. I wasn't like that at all, while I definitely did deal with identity issues in middle school and beyond, I always felt a strong sense of Arab and Muslim pride in me, even if it was hard to find it at times.
Arab parents are nothing less than strict and well-- pretty harsh, but hey, that's the cultural norm. Any
Arab child is familiar with the muhtrug, which even the thought of brings up both tears of laughter and fear. Being an Arab teenage girl, I am expected to do my best in school (well, I mean most families expect that), dress modestly (no shorts, tank tops, dresses, etc. yeah it's quite a bother), not be out at night, and not hang out with boys. While this doesn't seem too harsh, when put upon a rebellious girl who wants to experience teenage life as it is, some problems arise. Often when I'm out with friends, I am expected to be back earlier than my other friends, my clothing choices are sadly limited, and I often have to cancel out on outings with my male friends.
I of course know why my mom enforces these rules. As I stated earlier, she wants her children to have a strong sense of their faith and culture, however when enforcing these strict rules on her children, there's more of well, a tendency to rebel. Which I have done many times, and got caught. Of course nothing morally bad, but merely going against my parents' rules and wishes.
Anyway what I'm trying to get at, is no matter how strict the rules are parents will enforce on me, I will likely go out and experiment with teenagehood anyway-- like talking to boys, wearing dresses, and staying out past curfew, and that's merely apart of life.