Oh the joy!

So it's been a while since I last posted. Since then (February) not much as changed...or well maybe a lot has changed! The teenager is now full on 15. He is about to finish his drivers ed course which means he will be expecting to go get his learners permit ANY DAY NOW! This whole thing excites and terrifies the bejeezus out of me!! On one had him driving will be nice-there are benefits to this. On the other hand-him driving I am afraid is going to be a disaster!! In FL they have to have a permit for a year before getting a full license. SO I have a year before my insurance goes up and he is able to drive alone without an adult. That's where the trepidation sets in...him being alone in a car...or worse yet-in a car with a GIRL!! You ALL know what I am talking about here. So there is that issue...which I consider important but somewhat minor when considering he is my son who LOVES fast cars and wants to put his car on coil-louvers (spelling??) which makes it super low?? I am concerned not only about his potential heavy foot but the anticipated daring high speed maneuvers that he may attempt to reenact from the movies...and wind up hurting himself...or worse. I currently drive him to school every morning so we talk a lot about cars and driving and he is pretty level headed but I am still TERRIFIED!! I am sure this is nothing new to the world of parenting. I am sure that every parent has dealt with the level of anxiety I have right now...and will continue to have but seriously this stuff gives me low-level anxiety attacks! Don't get me wrong-I know it's my prerogative to allow him to drive or not-and I remind him of this almost daily, but the reality is that one day in the next 13-15 months he will indeed be driving because he's a pretty good kid-he's doing well in school, he does most of what is asked of him, and he doesn't get in trouble. SO other than my own anxieties I have no reason to stop him from driving. Now the younger one...he's almost 13-which will make him teenager 2 in my house. He's in middle school and DRIVING his father CRAZY! Dad has almost completely taken over the academic oversight of the younger one, aka booger, and is about a half step from going to school with booger to find out what he does all day because booger, who is gifted, is acting like he has a strong case of CRANIAL RECTUMITUS, which is driving us both crazy but Dad is taking a stronger approach...so I let him. So far he has lost his laptop and he's a breath away from losing his phone. So we continue to deal with the dramatic hormone changes going on at home, hair growing everywhere, and the smell...oh the smell. The smell that comes from a teenage boy is something awful. It has moved into their rooms and taken up residence. Seriously can't identify the smell...it doesn't come from the dirty clothes or the bed, or the carpet (we have tile) it's just a smell and it won't leave-even the industrial air purifier won't pull it out. Seriously-the hormone changes-my boys (yes boys-not girls) go from sweet to sassy in a hot millisecond-they PMS like girls. WHO KNEW. I suppose it is still probably better than having two girls in the house who really go through the cycle...that would be bad!! God knew that having a daughter would be a near death experience for her...and opted to give me sons instead!! So that's all for now...maybe I will try to be more regular at this. We shall see!

Teenagers

So my nearly 15 year old is always coming home with a new phrase. His most recent one is "I'm done. I'm just done." This is his way of saying he's over it. Now this normally wouldn't bother me...we all get "done" with stuff at some point or another. The problem is when he says this phrase to his father and I when he is asked to do something like chores. That is a problem for me. My husband has great issue with respect-as a former military man respect and disrespect is HUGE.

My teenager rides a fine line with respect and disrespect quite often. Recently a recent tantrum and blatant disrespect occurred with this phrase. It just so happened it occurred while our neighbor down the street was standing in the yard. Now my neighbor is an older gentleman who definitely follows the 'spare the rod' mentality. So in short my husband was further embarrassed (and disrespected) when the neighbor looked at him and said 'you aren't going to let him get away with that?' question from the neighbor. Later as my husband and I are catching up he tells me about the tantrum and that he took the boys phone away for a couple of days (the phone is a lifeline). I agreed with the punishment but preferred to have a chat with my son. I let a couple days go by and took the opportunity when it was just him and I to talk to him about the whole "so done" phrase and remind him that this type of talk was not okay when we were being serious with him about chores and grades and he should save it for his friends...because after all we are his parents and NOT his friends and there is a time and place for him to goof off with us.

I don't know why it is that parents feel the need to be their kids friend. That isn't my job while you are growing up. My job as your parent is to make sure you stay in line, graduate from high school and eventually become a productive member of society. I am here to tell you when you screw up and kick your tail back into line. We can be friends when you are an adult and pay your own way through life.