To all you moms of toddlers out there who sometimes want to pull your hair out….brace yourselves.  One day they’ll turn into teenagers.    Remember when Linda Blair’s head spun around in the Exorcist?  Yup…it’s a whole lot like that.   Not that it’s like that all the time…but there doesn’t seem to be a happy medium.  Either it’s ‘all good’…or completely insane.

I remember a few years back, our middle school offered parents a video to take home to watch about teens and how their brains are wired.  The hormones raging…their (in)ability to process certain thoughts/feelings/expressiveness due to the way their brains have developed up until this stage in their life.   Although all that was well and good and explained a lot.  But it still doesn’t make things any better when you are in the middle of a screaming match or a realllly bad attitude.   And counting to ten and deep breaths are way…WAY out the frickin window.

Sometimes it takes every fiber of my being to hold back…walk away…or not shout.  Mostly I shout on my way out of the door to sit outside for a minute or 20.   Do you remember when the kids were little and you’d make up words to substitute for swear word?  Like…fudge…or shitaki mushroom?  You’d never want them to hear those words much less repeat them.  Times change as they grow.

My teen daughters have actually SAID to me…’when you respect me…I’ll respect you.’  And this coming from two girls that I get raving compliments over ALL the time.  They are so different at home sometimes….than to the outside world.  Of course, I pointed out the error of these statements to them and explained about earning respect…blah blah blah.   To them….when they are all pissed off and SO not calm…they don’t want to hear a thing.  It goes in one ear and straight out the other.  Almost as if there is nothing at all in between.  They are the sweetest kids 95% of the time.  But OMG, look out when the attitude comes out.  I always tell them…you can only apologize soooo many times til it doesn’t mean anything anymore.

I realize they are blowing off steam but it still pisses me off.  I would have got a good crack in the face if I said something like that to my mother.  Of course I probably thought it when I was their age…but kids today think they are owed so much more.   They don’t get the concept of shutting their traps at certain times.  Maybe it’s my kids’ Montessori education in the early years and that whole concept of voicing your opinion, yadda yadda yadda.  But I really REALLY wish they’d learn the value of just shutting their mouth and thinking before letting their words spew out.

And that goes for other kids too.   I’m floored at kids today, walking around in public and using the F word like it’s the word ‘the’.   I swore too at that age but there was just something about an approaching adult that warranted shutting your mouth  out of respect.   I was out shoveling snow the other day and three boys and two girls were walking down the street.   I bet one day they’ll all join the Navy cuz these kids were swearing like sailors.   One or two made eye contact with me yet they just kept on and had no response to my ‘watch your mouth’ suggestion.

Poor parenting or just a sign of the times?

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