Seasons of Stress... err, Love
I have to admit that although I was extremely grateful for the sympathetic nature of my Blogging friends, and appreciated the kindness shown in their reaction to my last post, it surprised me considerably that they saw my description of that day's as being particularly noteworthy in the Stress category. I found the argument with the kid to be stressful, because we are normally a pretty low-key family as far as communications go. And financial issues certainly put extra pressure on us at the moment. But the day's schedule was not particularly unusual.
Then I realized that none of my readers are owners of Teenagers.
It is the nature of Parenting Teenagers - at least in our day and age - that you spend your days in a constant round of:
rushing around from place to place in order to get them to the next class/performance/game/social event
and then
waiting and/or volunteer-laboring while they participate in their class/performance/game/social event.
Your reward is that on the (in the case of male teens: rare) occasion you are stunned by the realization that your kid is Practically Grown up, that s/he scrubs up rather nicely, and that s/he is turning into a human being that you wouldn't mind voluntarily inviting to a social gathering... of people you actually like.
The downsides are the many, many occasions on which you realize that your child is actually an Alien Being, that you don't have time to run your own life, and that you have been officially downgraded to Near Imbecile status for the foreseeable future and therefor are doomed to be an object of alternating Condescending Pity and Exasperated Scorn for at least a decade.
Send not to know for whom the eye rolls, it rolls for thee.
The point being that although it can be stressful and exhausting to be the parent of a teenager, it helps to know that there is an end to it at some point, and that it's all just a natural part of the process. It's All Normal.
No promises about your teenager...
Then I realized that none of my readers are owners of Teenagers.
It is the nature of Parenting Teenagers - at least in our day and age - that you spend your days in a constant round of:
rushing around from place to place in order to get them to the next class/performance/game/social event
and then
waiting and/or volunteer-laboring while they participate in their class/performance/game/social event.
Your reward is that on the (in the case of male teens: rare) occasion you are stunned by the realization that your kid is Practically Grown up, that s/he scrubs up rather nicely, and that s/he is turning into a human being that you wouldn't mind voluntarily inviting to a social gathering... of people you actually like.
The downsides are the many, many occasions on which you realize that your child is actually an Alien Being, that you don't have time to run your own life, and that you have been officially downgraded to Near Imbecile status for the foreseeable future and therefor are doomed to be an object of alternating Condescending Pity and Exasperated Scorn for at least a decade.
Send not to know for whom the eye rolls, it rolls for thee.
The point being that although it can be stressful and exhausting to be the parent of a teenager, it helps to know that there is an end to it at some point, and that it's all just a natural part of the process. It's All Normal.
No promises about your teenager...
posted by Eileen at 6:16 AM
7 Comments:
So far, all my teenagers have been cats and I think I'll keep it that way.
"you have been officially downgraded to Near Imbecile status for the foreseeable future and therefor are doomed to be an object of alternating Condescending Pity and Exasperated Scorn for at least a decade." - this? just cracked me up. It's so true. Well, at least you know where you stand (on your poor tired feet).
I'm with Carrie K! I'll keep my teenage cat. :)
Oh! I read your blog! I have a teenager! And another getting close to the teen years! And I totally feel your pain. And yeah, the schedule? It sucks. Sometimes I feel like I live in my car. And my car is just not as nice as my house.
Cats are lower maintenance, although they *do* have a similar sort of attitude (contempt). Cats are also much less expensive. Yah, stick with the cats.
Amy - if you have a teenager, and spending a lot of time in the car, I'll BET that the car isn't as nice, in more ways than one. At least, if the state of my car is anything to judge by...
"many, many occasions on which you realize that your child is actually an Alien Being" LOL!
As an young adult, I realize now how much hell I put my Mom through. She dealt with my mood swings, rebellion, and drove me to work every night. That's the stuff you appreciate when you're older and have evolved out of your own little self involved world. :)
Yep, cat adolescents can be a pest too. Jasper has been trying to get people to give him rides in their cars for years now.
Pao's cousins are always using their dad as a free taxi so I understand where you are coming from.
Hmm I love the idea behind this website, very unique.
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