I know, I know, I know - I just dropped mine off at O’Hare last weekend to go see Grandma - then he gets off the plane in Phoenix and has to get his baggage and get the shuttle to Prescott - then repeat the whole thing coming home! ALONE!!! Without me to hold his had or walk him to the gate or anyone to meet him at Sky Harbour. My HIMSELF!!! I was a nervous WRECK from Sunday at 9:30 to Sunday at 8:30 when I finally heard from them! He’s 16, not 6, but that’s how I am. His stepdad thinks I’m relatively insane. :rolleyes:
It is a physical imperative that a 16year old boy stand in front of the refrigerator for at least 5 minutes out of every day til icicles develop in his nostrils, occasionally announcing “there’s nothing to eat!”, and then eating all of it.
There are a few people who’d disagree with you:
The Israelites who wrote the book of Deuteronomy evidently thought that rebellious sons were a serious and common enough problem to include a passage on what to do about them.
I’d say that rebellious teenagers aren’t exactly a new thing.
He will also leave 1/2 of a teaspoon of the mint chocolate chip ice cream in the carton, in the freezer and then tell his mother that “I left you a bowl”.
My nearly-18-year-old daughter is at the beach this week for Senior Week with a group of girlfriends (and zillion other kids her age - half of them horny teenage boys.) She zipped out the door with a suitcase of short-shorts, mini skirts and tank tops and $300 in her fist.
Talk about fretting. Will she remember to take her medication each day? Is she drinking? Is she doing something worse?
Is she wearing sunscreen? Is she sunburned and miserable? Oh, the questions…
THe old quotations don’t say anything about teenagers. They talk about “sons” and “youths.”
Cas is right - there was not a separate demographic considered as distinct from children and adults until some time in the 20th century (I’d place it rather earlier than the 50’s). Prior to that, they were either older children or young adults. They were not expected to experience teen angst (and it certainly wasn’t indulged as it is now), and they actually wanted to become adults, rather than the adults wanting to be teenagers. It’s not that there wasn’t an acknowledgement that there was a kind of nebulous stage for a while during which a kid might sort of alternate between childish and adult behavior - these people weren’t stupid. It just wasn’t considered a separate stage of life, and behavior wasn’t expected to be markedly different from childhood or adulthood.
As an example, read some of Louisa Alcott’s stuff some time. It’s pretty clear what the life of a “teenager” was in “Little Women” (part 1), “An Old Fashioned Girl”, or “Eight Cousins.” There certainly were commonalities between kids of that age then and now, but the attitudes and expectations with respect to them as a class (which they weren’t then) were very different.
Yes. And you’ll never know about it… (kidding. I’m sure she’s a fine child. After all, she’s got you for a mom.)
My MIL told me you never stop worrying about your kids. She still worries about her son, and he’s 42!
My favorite scene in Parenthood is when Steve Martin and Jason Robards are talking, and Jason Robards says “You never stop worrying. You never reach the end zone. You never spike the ball. It’s like your aunt Edna’s ass. It goes on forever and it’s just as scary.”
::: fingers in ears::: La, la, la, I can’t hear you! 
Well, she’s not 18, so she can’t get anything pierced or tattoed. She said she’s going to get a henna tattoo, which is okay. We all got them last year when we went down for the firefighter’s convention. Very fun. Mine lasted about 5 or 6 weeks.
It’s a big resort town (Ocean City, MD), and they’ve really cracked down on underage drinking, and I trust her pretty much, so I’m sure she’s okay. I think.
It’s strange - she’s there this week, and will be back Friday. Then we leave Saturday for the firefighter’s convention again (same place - Ocean City). She has to miss it this year since she has to work. First time in several years we haven’t gone as a family.
::: sniff ::: My baby’s all grown up.
I don’t know anything. At all.
It would be helpful it I employed quantuum physics to be able to drive the car, and yet not appear visibly whilst doing so.
I don’t know anything.
Cartooniverse- 14.5 year old daughter, 16 year old son. Tons of gray hair…
Whaaa?! Really? I always thought my mum could tell when I’d been doing anything the least bit bad, though she pretended she didn’t know and I pretended that I hadn’t done anything.
Yes. Well.
My turn for Senior Week wasn’t all that long ago and I remember quite clearly what we did. Of course, we were able to buy beer and fireworks at 18 then. And we were allowed to sit on the beach and drink beer.
And I had a steady boyfriend who went with us. (Unbeknownst to my parents)
Along with three of my girlfriend’s boyfriends. It was quite a week. :eek:
Thanks for the compliment, though.
And just when you start liking them again, when they figure out how to be helpful and truly are, and they’re really good company…they walk out the door. “buhbye, gotta go, time for me to fly.” Saturday morning my first baby, having just graduated, just turned 18, is getting on a bus and moving 1000 miles away. I could swear I just put her on the bus to kindergarten. Boy that was a fast chapter. They forgot to put in the manual how hard it is to watch them leave.
DOUGH EYES? are we talking donut, cookies or simple everyday bread, what about bagels??
Gives a whole new spin for Hanibal Lector…
The solution is to live in a city with 1) a university and 2) enough interesting stuff to keep them around afterward. Worked for my mom.