10 Reasons Parents of Teens Need to Stop Whining - What are the good parts of the teen years that you are excited about?
10 Reasons Parents of Teens Need to Stop Whining
Tell me if you've heard this one: "Aww, she's cute now, but just wait until she's a teenager." I have. At least a few times a week, someone, usually someone who has a teenager at home, decides to pee in my Corn Flakes.
Yes. I get it. I have read the books. My daughter will one day be an acne-ridden mess of hormones and angst just like yours. But while you're busy trying to ruin my day, I'm one of those "when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, heavy on the vodka" kind of moms. Lucky for you, I share.
So here's something to BRIGHTEN your day ... a look at why parents of teenagers have it a lot better than they think they do (even with all that door slamming and OMG, I hate you, Mom stuff):
1. Sleeping until noon on a Saturday is now officially back on your agenda. It's not like your kids are going to need you until 1 ... at the earliest.
2. Sex in the afternoon is back. It's not like they'll be caught dead coming anywhere near your room when the door is closed ... and the sound of their iPod drowns out any noise anyway.
3. If they "hate" what you make for dinner, they can go make their own peanut butter and jelly sandwich while you enjoy cauliflower mash that is still warm.
4. Kid-free Sunday afternoons? Three words sponsored by the term words "working papers."
5. They may refuse to actually touch any of your clothes in the dryer, however it has been years since you've found a horribly misshapen bra that was used as any of the following: slingshot, teddy bear earmuffs, "fancy" carrier for Barbies.
6. Taking them clothes shopping means going all by yourself to paw through the sale rack at The Gap for something you want to wear (where you will find that not one single sales clerk greets you with a look of terror).
7. You've seen more than one movie released in the last six months that did not rely heavily on talking animals to further the plot. Wait, scratch that. You've seen an actual movie. As in the whole thing.
8. When you read a book, you don't have to read it out loud unless there's a "Holy crap, this is so twisted and funny that you have to hear this Honey" kind of paragraph.
9. When your mother passes down a priceless family heirloom, your first thought was not "Oh shit, where am I going to hide this so it doesn't get broken?"
10. You pee alone. Every. Single. Time.
So there you have it. The scent of teen spirit may be heavy on the Axe and dirty gym socks, but there's something sweet in there too.
What are the good parts of the teen years that you are excited about?
I love having teens because they do their own laundry, help cook/clean, make me laugh are starting to be able to drive themselves (one anyway)..... and their personalities are starting to take so the parent-child dynamic changes as they get closer to adulthood. If all goes well we will still have pleny in common and do things together once they are adults. We are building a good base for that now.
What I enjoy is that I can now actually have a discussion with my stepdaughter. When she is having problems she doesn't expect me to fix them for her, she just wants someone to talk to about them. When she makes a mistake I don't have to scream and yell everytime anymore, we can sit down and discuss why it was wrong and what she should do in the future if she is in a similiar situation. Once you get past middle school with teenagers it does get better, they are more willing to listen to you if you take the time to find out what is going on in their lives. And when you make time for them to actually just talk to them you will find that they are bright, funny, young adults that have their own opinion about things and are fun to talk to. I am looking forward to when she starts to drive too so I don't have to play taxi cab anymore!
Nothing they suck!!! I will take my 5mo old and 6yr old over my two teenagers anyday.
Edited: to say it has been a bad day with my teens today.
You can run to the market...by yourself. No more packing up the kiddo's and all their various paraphenelia.
Naps! Naps are simply wonderful.
No more babysitters! You can have a dinner party without interruption...or go out to dinner, sans kids.
No more taxi driving....you can just worry about them driving, instead.
Swimming...without supervision.
Pictures of your teen
- Cafe Steph
on Jul. 19, 2012 at 1:59 PM