<p>Now I know why my parents looked so old when I was a teenager. I’ve aged 20 years in the past five. My daughter asked why I look “different” now. Uh stress and strife 24/7 is not exactly a beauty treatment.</p>
<p>
If she needs a partner, I could send my S :p. We have raised a generation of Negotiators and Debaters.</p>
<p>At my house my boys (16 & 19) seem to think “good” is the right answer to everything.</p>
<p>How was school? good
How was work? good
How was your trip? good
How are your grades? good
How’s your car running? good
How’s your bank account looking? Good
How was football practice? good</p>
<p>I guess its a boy thing. It’s the perfect one syllable answer to every question to thwart further questioning. How can you need to know more after I’ve already told you it was good?</p>
<p>Haha PackMom, I say the same thing… and then if they ask me to expand they wish they hadn’t because I will go on forever!</p>
<p>Good’s are fine… if the answer is ever Eh… or Bad then you should ask for them to expand.</p>
<p>I’m really enjoying this thread - it’s so comforting to know that I am not alone in my experiences with my three teenagers! (Boys 18 and 13, girl 16) It feels like there will never be an end to the misery they can inflict, and I do find myself wishing that babies came with warning labels.</p>
<p>My mantra is…“let go”…but I’m not very good at it.</p>
<p>Packmom, you are lucky that the response you get is “good”. My boys always respond “I don’t know” every time I ask a question, lest they give away too much. My daughter is so much better at sharing with me, but she has the emotional fireworks thing going.</p>
<p>I tell myself that teenagers behave this way so that when the time comes, goodbye is so much easier!</p>
<p>^^^
My husband calls that “pooping in the nest.”</p>
<p>Pack Mom- my son’s one word is “Fine”. That is the only answer I get to most questions. He recently had knee surgery, and I went to his 1-week post-op appt. with him. He asked me why I needed to go. I said, “So I can actually know how you are doing!”</p>
<p>I said to S, “S, next time you go to the orthodentist, ask them how your treatment is going.” Response? “Why would I do that Mom?”</p>
<p>Another one here whose mom cursed her with, “I hope your kids treat you exactly as you treated me. . .” She used to throw her hands up and say, “Lord, what did I ever do to deserve THIS?!” She had 6 teenagers at one time (including twins), and some of us (not me, of course) gave her a lot of grief.</p>
<p>I think those selfish years end when your child becomes a parent. I remember that when I gave birth to my first kid --I had this INSTANT realization of all my mother had done for us–and feelings of guilt for not appreciating her earlier. I don’t know why my eyes had been closed to all her work/sacrifices until that moment.</p>
<p>I think a kid with a personality similar to his/her parent is going to get that parent’s goat. My son (17) really gets mine. My daughter (15) gets sullen/moody and mouthy at times, but we have a more distant relationship because her personality is different. A couple of my younger children have much stronger personalities, bad tempers. I am dreading their teen years. . .My teens really haven’t been so horrible, so far–just a few really bad moments (death threats, etc.) IMO boys ages 9-12 are the most annoying of all.</p>
<p>So, none of y’all get strings of the indefinite “Possibly” as an answer?</p>
<p>I often called D “the tsarina” but sometimes now think “Counselor” has more bearing.</p>
<p>atomom: DEATH THREATS! For themselves or you? My oldest stepson threatened to commit suicide at age 7 when I became engaged to his dad. That was not too pleasant. </p>
<p>And sorry to say…I found boys at age 17-20 worse than the 9-12 era. At least you still have some control at that age.</p>
<p>RE: death threats–that was kid wanting to kill parents. . . we survived.</p>
<p>The boy who is just like me sends my saintly husband into paroxysms–he who never raised his voice to the boys before the oldest turned 12!</p>
<p>hee hee. why do you people have kids if teenagers are just a handful? not even teenagers… heck every stage of having a kid up to age 30 is going to drive you nuts. why btoher?</p>
<p>namaste, </p>
<p>hee, hee yourself. Actually, having kids seemed like a good idea at the time and when you add up the “Kid years” (ages of your kids, added together), there’s been a lot more upside than down. </p>
<p>However, I am trying hard to lead a good life because I know my personal hell will be reliving S1’s last two years of HS in infinite loop. The guy with the horns and the pitchfork doesn’t scare me at all. Been there, done that, once was more than enough.</p>
<p>namaste:</p>
<p>The reason we all went ahead and had kids was when we saw Linda Blair’s head go all the way around we thought it was just special effects.</p>
<p>namaste: We used birth control that wasn’t 100% fail proof. Our bad.</p>
<p>& we needed someone to do the chores that are beneath us.</p>
<p>Your teenagers do chores?</p>
<p>Lol…</p>