Aug 16, 2026 Features / Columnists, News

(Kaieteur News) – Few arguments have been presented to parents more confidently than this one: “But everybody going!” It might be a party, a lime, a school event, a trip, or simply permission to stay out later. To the parent, the argument sounds ridiculous. Surely the fact that everybody else is doing something cannot possibly make it sensible.

To the young person, however, “everybody going” may represent something far more important than the event itself. It can mean: I do not want to be left out. I do not want to be the strange one. I want to belong. And belonging is one of the most powerful forces in human behaviour.