A general love/hate thread about teenagers

[lilibet]

I've had a browse through the Teenagers Topic and there doesn't seem to be a general, "aren't they great/don't you bloody hate them" thread.

I could start a thread each day about my two boys, 15 and 19 (I also have a dd 24),today I could start half a dozen!

Ayone interested?

[Sparklingbrook]

My DS will be 13 on Thursday, tell me what I need to know.

[lilibet]

Oh don't ask me, I decided this morning that I can't parent boys. Just when I thought the second one was ok he has started copying the eldest, not quite as bad yet, but there's time.

Dh goes down the 'this too will pass' route, but when you're in the middle of it, it's so crap.

[Splishysploshy]

I have 2, DS 16 and DD 13. I must say that generally I find them great and so much fun but......they certainly have their moments and can do the 'for gods sake', 'you just don't get it' and 'grow up mum' very well.
Saying that there is nothing I like better than a house full of teenagers laughing and having fun together, they normally get the guitars out and sing loudly.

[KatyMac]

I love my DD dearly, all the time

But I hate the way she acts sometime & it makes me angry

She cannot accept that both of these statements can be true at the same time

[HarriettJones]

We are just getting there.

How do you cope with the wittering? Dd1 is at the 'she said , he said, it was so funny' stage and it's lovely she wants to talk to us but it drives me mad!

[lilibet]

My dd wittered more than either of the boys, I used to learn so much giver her and her mates lifts, they would sit in the back of the car and I'm sure didn't realise I could hear every word.

Ds2 is beign really horrid at the moment and whatever yousay, he knows best. He was such a clever boy at 11, and still is, but is throwing it all away because he is so bloody cocky.

[cory]

Not only amazed by how different they are from each other, but how different they are from themselves at different moments. That the sensible steady girl with the love of literature and the ambitions for the future, the girl who will take a rebuke with maturity and good humour, is the same as the hysterical girl who has dropped out of school because she cannot handle her panic attacks, the child who tried to kill herself last week- and is now making plans so that her forthcoming operation should not inconvenience her drama club.

That the rebellious, argumentative almost-teen, who sneaks a swear word into every other sentence in the hope of offending me, and never misses an opportunity to inform us that we are uncool and weird and wrong, is the same boy who sobbed forlornly on the phone to emergency services last week and snuggled up to big sister like a baby when she got out of hospital, that the boy who spends his school day surrounded by "babes" also goes to the trouble of befriending the most timid boy in his class in order to make him feel at home.

[GilbGeekette]

HarriettJones, I have a wittering DD aged 14. In the main I let witter away, on the basis that at least she's talking to (at?) me and occasionally in amongst all the jabber, there's things I need to know (who's drinking, who's smoking cigarettes/weed). That said, there are times when I just need her to shut up for a minute, and I'm frank and tell her. Something along the lines of "Hon, I know this is a big deal to you, and I want to hear about it, but I just need to do x / talk to y / think about z right now". Especially recently when I've been studying...

[gingeroots]

Oh cory about your DD ,hope she is feeling better soon .
Your DS sounds lovely .

[lilibet]

oh Cory, I cannot imagine what you have gone though.

ds2's gf has suicidal tendancies, self harms and is seen regularly buy the community mental health team, I know that it's too much for a 15 eyar old boy to deal with but they have been together two years now and i feel poweless. I am sure that a lot of his behaviour is down to worry about her and also I am wary that any puishments i hand out to him affect her. I confiscate his lap top - she can't talk to him, I worry,

heigh ho

[foofooyeah]

Oh teenagers !!!! Bane of my life - I could write a book and I only have one at the moment, but he can be so funny and great company - but so fecking useless and lazy that currently he is driving me up the wall.

Today for example, despite me telling him he needed to get his P45 into new employer, rings me at work in a panic at 12 saying where is it as needs to have it in by 16:00 or he wont get paid. Tell him its where I said it was. Next question: whats my bank account number and sort code???? Give me strength! Im sure he expected me to drop everything and give him a lift.

He isnt working today so left him a lift of jobs to do. He is sooooo tired and worn out!

He is supposed to be looking for a permanant job (has a summer one at the mo) or a college course but hasnt had time to do that - he has just had three days off work - too busy socialising.

I know he is a teenager and they are lazy and feckless but its damn hard living with one when you work full time and are broke yourself.

[sugarice]

Mine are generally great and I don't have many moans for having 3 boys. Last night however ds1's-17 sense of entitlement loomed its ugly head. He asked for £200 for a ticket to V and was genuinely put out when I said no. . This morning he attempted the I'll pay you back line. He's already going to one festival which he funded himself but cannot grasp that I'm not paying for another .

[soda1234]

My 15 yo dd has tonight told me to " hurry up and die in a hole", because I "spoke too loud", whilst on the phone to her dad who is working in Germany.

She is utterly self-centred, incredibly whiney, and actually I don't like her at all at the moment, nothing is right in her life, from the size of her thighs to the meals I serve. But if I dare suggest solutions, eg exercise or healthier meals that include more veg or fruit, I'm apparently agreeing that she has fat thighs!

I love my dd very much, but she is such hard work, she says it's all my fault, it may be, but she has a twin brother who is happy and tells me it's not my fault, his sister is unreasonable.

Not really sure why I posted this, I am just feeling really, really low. I am almost feeling that I'm being abused, she does hit out , throw stuff at me etc

[Mrsjay]

MY 19 yr old was a nightmare from 12 till 15 it was awful and some days i didnt like her very much she could be mean nasty moody huffy and not a nice kid to be around she was hard work not all the time but.... , she said to me recently she wasnt grumpy but mysterious

dd2 is a a dramatic and everything is a drama that i can cope with she is a chattier teen than her sister ever was I can cope with drama if its vocal i couldnt cope with this sulking and sneaking around dd1 did,

dd1 is fab now and really turned a corner and we have an amazing relationship so it does get better honest,