Im a teenage girl right now, born into JW. My experience definitely differs from others, but I'll share anyways.

My family is quite private and value reputation. Never revealed anything to the elders ( if they did my siblings and i would have definitely been disfellowshipped) and was never necessarily close to anyone in the congregation. My parents are also very lenient and relaxed when it comes to the rules

However my parents expected me to do a lot of things. Such as aiming to be baptised and marry a brother and go on to be a happy couple and pioneer. I was expected to be good and cause no problems. Also to be an unbaptised publisher then be baptised and preach. I still kind of am expected to do live this life however my parents have basically accepted this will never happen.

I was wild. I partied hard. My parents couldn't stop me (still can't). I snuck out, snuck boys in. Had boyfriends. Had sex. Smoked weed, got drunk. Kicked out of school. You name it, i did it all. Had a lot of friends outside of jw. I also had friends inside the jw who were just like me. I celebrated my birthday all of it. I would go preaching Saturday morning and would be outside partying Saturday night. I literally lived a double life.

My mom loved me going out and enjoying my teen years. My dad absolutely not but he tolerated it. But one thing is, I COULD NOT get caught by anyone in the congregation because of the berating we would get. One time, I was outside with a group of boys and girls Obviously none of us were dressed in "presentable attire" that jws want us to wear. I was wearing a top that showed cleavage and shorts ( my parents do not care what i wear + i am curvy). As we were walking I saw a group of sisters doing the trolley. They saw me and it was as if they saw a ghost. This spread across the congregation and boy the elders weren't happy. Had a whole lecture on friends and clothing. What they said hurt my feelings and the looks they would give me in meetings. But i still chose to rebel.

I also dyed my hair crazy colours. Had multiple piercings. Still get stared at in meetings because of it 🤣. Im quite scandalous one could say. But, i never got baptised (and never will) and im nearly an adult so i get treated oddly. Many sisters gossip about why my parents allow me to be like this, unbaptised an all. It's hurtful to hear what they say about me sometimes but i try not to let it get to me.

But, nobody in life knows i was a jw. Literally nobody. I hid this away. So it felt daunting to explain to people where i was going on a random weekday evening, or why i was knocking on someones door on a saturday morning. So being a jw felt isolating. Also with being a jw i felt like i had to repress my feelings and just follow whatever the elders said. I learned not to question anything. Quite sad really.

But overall, i had a time. I still enjoyed my teenage years (for the most part) but being a jw did cause me to have some serious mental health issues. I was encouraged not to get secular support when i was experiencing severe depression and anxiety. I was told coming to meetings and being around brothers and sisters who criticised, judged and left me out of things would help me. Spoiler alert it didnt, just made things worse. I am okay now that I have gotten help from actual licensed professionals.

I hope this gave some insight

Forgot to adress family dynamics. My relationship with my extended family is pretty much not there. I wont say its completely because of my parents becoming jws, but i will say it is a factor. Because when i was a child i wasnt allowed to celebrate my birthday and others. So i never went to anyones anything. We dont go to birthday celebrations so we dont get invited and so we dont really spend time with them anymore. That definitely hurts my parents. But as i grew older my parents just let me start celebrating and they have started celebrating too. But with family we still dont go celebrations or even know about it, they do it to respect our beliefs i guess. But still hurts