going from completely protected, to completely defenseless

As a child your life consists of your parents, the places your parents take you, and the friends your parents let you hangout with. As you grow up, you get more of a say where you go and who you hangout with, but still your parents have the final say in what you do. In my case this is very true, and at 16 I am getting more and more control over what I want to do but I still have that layer of protection from my parents because they pay for me to live in our house, pay for me to eat, and pay for most of the stuff I wear and want to do. It’s honestly really nice that I have been given all of these things and many more than that, and I am extremely grateful for what I’ve been given, but does it prepare me for the real world? The short answer is no, no it doesn’t. The long answer is the reason they do this for us is because they love us, and they enjoy making us happy. If they were to let us fend for ourselves, we would be dead in a month. So because of that they feed us and clothe us and give us shelter. This benefits us as children and early teenage life, but as we approach adulthood, some of us have no idea how to cook, how to responsibly buy groceries, or how to keep up with bills. These are things that our parents need to teach us but sometimes they baby us too much, so it feels like we are completely, 100% protected. Then as we go live on our own or go to college, we feel completely vulnerable and utterly defenseless. If we are not prepared it can be some of the hardest times of our lives. But it is good because it is the real world and there are other people going through the same things all around you at college at least. So there are people you can talk to and learn from. I am excited/nervous to go through this life change in the near future.