Planet Teenager
I have a teenager.
For those of you with teenagers you understand the signficance of what that means. For those of you that do not have teenagers it doesn't seem like it is a big deal.
Trust me....it is.
Let me start this with a disclaimer. I love my teen, he is a good kid. He hasn't been dropped off by the police, the school doesn't call except every once in a while and I believe he might actually go on to college. He has decent friends, and as far as I know they have never done anything bad in my house. So I do not have the "troubled teen."
I do, however, have all the reminders of why I never want to go back and be a teenager again.
Frankly, I think I volunarily blanked out most of my teenage years. I was a geek....and a klutz...and a fashion disaster. I never had good training from my parents and I was essentially lost most of the time in high school. I had a good group of friends that put up with me and I thank God for them to this day. I remember being nervous all the time of doing the wrong thing (of which I inevitably did) and of being view at by my peers as a spaz (of which they would have good reason to because I was one.)
Once I was past the teenage years, I was never so happy. Being an awkward adult is not bad if you are comfortable with it because there are SOOO many of us out there. Being a geek is okay as an adult.....and if you aren't hanging around the fashion police or divas then what you wear isn't that big of a deal.
Now that I have a teenager I have relive being a teenager through him.
I forgot all the drama in my youth, but he is reminding me. Dating, friendships, going out with friends or girlfriends/boyfriends.....I think there was less thought in the invasion of Normandy than what goes into a night on the town for these kids. And what is worse, they pretty much "hang out" going nowhere in particular. This is the way it typically goes. You have one kid that tries to organize a Friday night. If Kid A isn't going then Kid B isn't going because they are best friends. But if Kid A & B are going then C is going to not go because A kicked sand in his face at the park when they were 3. And if C isn't going then D & E can't go because they don't have a ride. And D is the reason why A was going in the first place because D's best friend E got a text from F who got a text from A who was asking if D going out with them. So if A is going then C isn't going, but now D really wants to go and is mad at C for not going. This means B is out of luck because only A is showing up and they might as well find a whole new alphabet group to hang with because clearly the ones they are hanging with are nuts. This is like Algebra from hell.
There are days I feel like I need a map to figure out who did what to whom. Technically, I don't want to know, but I get dragged into the drama of it all because on some level I find it facinating that these things are going on. It is like a Teen Soap Opera. If these kids wrote down what is going on they could sell it to Hollywood and make millions off of it.
Then away from the social aspects of being a teen today....I have to say that school puts a lot of pressure on them too. My son brings homework home that I believe is from Mars. I couldn't do his Algebra homework if my life depended on it. And Chemistry.....I have parts of my brain that are still on strike after doing my own Chem homework over 20 year ago! If I had to take those classes today, I think they would revoke my high school diploma.
Then we have the subjects that require research papers....I remember doing research projects....it was simple. You went to the library, you had a set area to get your information....and you used it.
Now....because everthing is a click away they are expected to do homework at any time. You cannot use the "I couldn't get to the library" excuse because you have the world at your fingertips. To be honest, I think I had it pretty easy when I was younger.
He is a Junior this year....which means I have 1 more year of his teenage drama. One more year of knowing all the players in the soap operas. Once he graduates I will have then successfully gone through my 2nd time around in the teen age years.
But I am not ready to exhale yet....I have one more in the shute waiting to enter into the teenage years. She has 3 years before high school. I hope that my 3rd time around will be easier because hopefully my son will still speak the langauge from Planet Teenager. Because clearly, I barely even retained my accent to be of much use.
For those of you with teenagers you understand the signficance of what that means. For those of you that do not have teenagers it doesn't seem like it is a big deal.
Trust me....it is.
Let me start this with a disclaimer. I love my teen, he is a good kid. He hasn't been dropped off by the police, the school doesn't call except every once in a while and I believe he might actually go on to college. He has decent friends, and as far as I know they have never done anything bad in my house. So I do not have the "troubled teen."
I do, however, have all the reminders of why I never want to go back and be a teenager again.
Frankly, I think I volunarily blanked out most of my teenage years. I was a geek....and a klutz...and a fashion disaster. I never had good training from my parents and I was essentially lost most of the time in high school. I had a good group of friends that put up with me and I thank God for them to this day. I remember being nervous all the time of doing the wrong thing (of which I inevitably did) and of being view at by my peers as a spaz (of which they would have good reason to because I was one.)
Once I was past the teenage years, I was never so happy. Being an awkward adult is not bad if you are comfortable with it because there are SOOO many of us out there. Being a geek is okay as an adult.....and if you aren't hanging around the fashion police or divas then what you wear isn't that big of a deal.
Now that I have a teenager I have relive being a teenager through him.
I forgot all the drama in my youth, but he is reminding me. Dating, friendships, going out with friends or girlfriends/boyfriends.....I think there was less thought in the invasion of Normandy than what goes into a night on the town for these kids. And what is worse, they pretty much "hang out" going nowhere in particular. This is the way it typically goes. You have one kid that tries to organize a Friday night. If Kid A isn't going then Kid B isn't going because they are best friends. But if Kid A & B are going then C is going to not go because A kicked sand in his face at the park when they were 3. And if C isn't going then D & E can't go because they don't have a ride. And D is the reason why A was going in the first place because D's best friend E got a text from F who got a text from A who was asking if D going out with them. So if A is going then C isn't going, but now D really wants to go and is mad at C for not going. This means B is out of luck because only A is showing up and they might as well find a whole new alphabet group to hang with because clearly the ones they are hanging with are nuts. This is like Algebra from hell.
There are days I feel like I need a map to figure out who did what to whom. Technically, I don't want to know, but I get dragged into the drama of it all because on some level I find it facinating that these things are going on. It is like a Teen Soap Opera. If these kids wrote down what is going on they could sell it to Hollywood and make millions off of it.
Then away from the social aspects of being a teen today....I have to say that school puts a lot of pressure on them too. My son brings homework home that I believe is from Mars. I couldn't do his Algebra homework if my life depended on it. And Chemistry.....I have parts of my brain that are still on strike after doing my own Chem homework over 20 year ago! If I had to take those classes today, I think they would revoke my high school diploma.
Then we have the subjects that require research papers....I remember doing research projects....it was simple. You went to the library, you had a set area to get your information....and you used it.
Now....because everthing is a click away they are expected to do homework at any time. You cannot use the "I couldn't get to the library" excuse because you have the world at your fingertips. To be honest, I think I had it pretty easy when I was younger.
He is a Junior this year....which means I have 1 more year of his teenage drama. One more year of knowing all the players in the soap operas. Once he graduates I will have then successfully gone through my 2nd time around in the teen age years.
But I am not ready to exhale yet....I have one more in the shute waiting to enter into the teenage years. She has 3 years before high school. I hope that my 3rd time around will be easier because hopefully my son will still speak the langauge from Planet Teenager. Because clearly, I barely even retained my accent to be of much use.
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