Browsing all posts in Teenagers.
Those Pieces of Paper Used to Mean Something
For those of you who don’t already know, I have a few degrees on my wall. Well, in a closet, since my office space is too full of bookshelves to find room for diplomas. But still.
I mention this because, apparently, my children have forgotten this. I don’t mind so much with the Engineer, since he’s [...]
I Think My Kids are Abnormal
In the vast amount of junk mail I get daily, there are two catalogs that stand out.
One of them, my kids immediately steal, paw through and drool over.
I literally get a Victoria’s Secret catalog every week. It sits on the kitchen table, with its lovely photos of nearly naked, half-starved young women. Untouched. Isn’t that [...]
They Still Do Cotillions?
The Goth is going to a cotillion.
I know. That was my reaction.
He is escorting this good friend of his. She asked, and he said sure, and so we’ve been giving dance lessons and etiquette lessons and explaining the meaning of the word “corsage.”
Because we are that kind of parents.
Rather than a cheesy Rent-a-Tux, grandpa, who [...]
The Time Machine
In literary analysis, a “destabilizing event” is that thing that happens after the characters have been proffered and the setting detailed. It’s what sets the characters off and rolling in the direction of the author’s choosing. In a journey-type story, there may be more than one, but there is always at least one.
I had never [...]
Why Your Teen is an Emotional Mess
We parents are often stymied by how a teenager can turn a papercutter into an emotional crisis.
Honest-to-your-favorite-deity, the Goth one day had a total meltdown over a missing piece of a papercutter. Which HE was the last one to use.
Who knew papercutters were such emotionally hot-button issues? I would have guessed postage stamps, myself. They [...]
Food Wars, Part 5,349
I have expounded, in the past, about the utility of a scorecard when dealing with a child’s food choices. I have since decided that the scorecard is irrelevant. Scorecards only work when the rules stay the same from one game to the next; if the rules of the game change, calculating the stats is virtually [...]
And in this Corner–the Teenager
You can’t win.
Really. Just give it up.
Just when I thought I had a handle on how to deal with teens, I find out I’m DOING IT ALL WRONG. Not that that’s unusual, in any way. But it is a pain in the keester.
As faithful readers of my blog know, I am a HUGE opponent of [...]
Volcanic Eruptions
It starts insidiously. A rumble, a grumble, a puff of steam.
But, like the residents of Pompeii, you’ve seen it before. Happens all the time. Not something to worry about.
Without the seismograph readings, it’s really hard to tell.
This can go on for days. Weeks even. It’s so much like normal teenager, that you just sit back [...]
Growing out of the Kids
Today’s paper had a tiny little article about the Duggar family–the subject of The Learning Channel’s “18 Kids and Counting.” Apparently, she’s pregnant with number 19.
I don’t watch reality TV and had never heard of them. So if you are just as clueless as I am, here’s the basic story. When the Duggars were first [...]
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Mead
Because no movie with witches, warlocks and hexes should go unpunished, no matter how beloved, the latest Harry Potter movie is under fire for–teenage drinking.
Here’s the scoop. There is a scene in the Hogsmead pub where the three young friends order butter beers. Hermoine, apparently, acts “tipsy” later (did NOT notice that when I saw [...]
