Like nailing Jell-O to a tree!

As adults, we think we are SO cool.  Our kids (up to a certain age) think we are the best thing since sliced bread.  When we get together with our friends, we are confident and glad to see them – we are proud of our accomplishments and happy for our friends’ joys.  We find our friends from childhood on Facebook and rejoice with them, pick up where we left off in some instances, and have fun catching up on all the life news.  We brag about our kids and their accomplishments, and commiserate with the parents of teenagers, offering sighs, head shaking, tongue clucking, and shoulder shrugging to indicate that we understand exactly what they’re going through.

What happens when kids turn 14 or 15 years old?  Suddenly, Mom and Dad aren’t so “cool” anymore – they’re “old fashioned” and “lame”.  Suddenly, we’re dumb and the kids are asking us to drop them off further and further from the view of their friends.  I vaguely remember doing that to my own parents – I swore they didn’t know anything.  It amazed me how much they learned after I left home and had children of my own!

Here's an accurate definition of Teenagers: A mammal found extensively throughout the planet, often clustered in groups, staring at their hands, vigorously exercising their thumbs to communicate with OTHER clustered groups. Thought to be a member of ‘Homo Sapiens’ due to physical similarities, though social and emotional behavior leads many researchers to consider Teenagers to be a completely different species altogether.

We desperately try to relate to these creatures that live in that dark cave that used to be a cute child’s room, now darkened by drawn shades and a closed door.  If you open it to see how they are, you’re generally greeted with, “Mom!” as if they’re harboring Gremlins that can’t be exposed to the light.  They line these nests with discarded underwear and other clothing that has never seen either the inside of a hamper OR their dresser drawers and closets.  They have far more eye contact with computers, cell phones and other handheld devices than they do with any human being. 

Trying to get these creatures to participate with the family is impossible.  They are simply too tired to wash the dishes, but will expend twice the energy trying to win a video game.  And the most embarrassing thing to them are their parents, or worse…their parent’s FRIENDS!  “You’re speaking to me in public?!?  NOOOOOOOO!!!!”   

Take heart, parents.  These creatures will eventually evolve into adults and assimilate into society and if you did your job right, you will have cast this familiar ‘spell’ on them:  “I hope you have a child JUST LIKE YOU!”  This will insure that they experience the same suffering that you did, in effect, assuring that they truly appreciate you in the future.  It worked on us - pay it forward!