Today my teenager was upset because.....

My 15 year old recently told me she was embarrassed by me as I was nice to her friends when they came round.

Mortified apparently because I SPOKE to them, and was friendly. In my very own house.

The sheer audacity eh.

This one is definitely my fault. DS (17) getting dressed for school (late) is just doing up his buttons when I noticed and idiotically mentioned "oh that's Dad's shirt you've got on". Both are white shirts but DH's are thick broadcloth whilst DS's are thin poly cotton so heaven knows how he didn't notice when he pullled it out of his drawer where it had accidentally ended up after a wash.

No amount of immediate reassurance from me and DH that this was absolutely fine, fitted perfectly adequately and he should definitely carry on wearing it in the interests of getting to school vaguely on time could stop him from ripping it off and getting a new one to button up veeeerrrry sloooowwwwwly.

It’s my fault his feet absolutely honk and he is very cross about this because

1. I buy him socks that are not the Nike variety ( I buy him natural fibre socks), Nike socks apparently have the ability to stop feet smelling, it should be their new non sexy advertising campaign.
2. I am evil because I refuse to wash anything that is not put in the laundry ( I do not go fossicking for crusty undies, smelly socks etc in his room and anything left in his bathroom stays there….. am sure his towel could walk out on its own).

The feet situation is apparently is nothing to do with the fact he is a shower adverse grotbag who has to have threats of ‘no dinner until you have a proper wash’ on a daily basis.

I am very very unreasonable to not be his laundry slave or to buy him expensive socks ….. he is welcome to buy his own expensive socks, until then he gets what he is given, he even yelled I’d be sorry if he left home…. Now let me think about that one…

I am enjoying these!
My (then) 16 year old was very annoyed with me as I couldn't come up with anything that he could do that would make me 'kick him out'.
Apparently several friends had been kicked out for misdemeanours such as eyebrow piercings or coming home drunk from a party.
I said I'd prefer him not to do those things, and if he did we'd have a bit to talk about but I wasn't planning to kick him out anytime soon.
At 17 he got a tattoo, I had a bit of a shout, so he took off to a friend's house and I had to go and get him as he told his friend's parents he was homeless.
I'm told teenagers have to be foul in order to detach then reattach to their parents as adults.
He's in his 20s now and we still laugh about it!

DD criticised me and said that 'everything I did' in terms of washing, cleaning, financing (ten months home schooling to get her through G.C.S.Es) didn't matter and came under the banner of

'basic parenting'

I spent the next few months racking my brains as to what 'basic parenting' might consist of....

any ideas?

Put then in a shed at the bottom of the garden and leave trays outside the door?

p.s. we have no shed.

I'm taking my 15 yo to visit her grandparents ALL HALF TERM. They live 80 miles away in the countryside. There is a bus tothe nearest town every 2 hours. My city-born girl is LIVID.

Bought ds (12) a new winter coat. The coat he had been going on about and desperately wanted. It was expensive and I'd saved for it.
It had been delivered but I'd only just remembered about it the next morning so when ds got up and dressed for school I presented him with this much wanted coat thinking he'd be joyous.
Apparently I had ruined the day as he wasn't expecting it.

DS said something funny and I laughed. Cue DD huffing that it wasn't funny and how come I always laugh at his jokes and never at hers? Sigh.

Ds school needed parent volunteers to take teens to football. Ds asked(told) me to help. I duly turned up and stood next to ds in car park whilst everything organised. Ds told me not to stand next to him, he didn’t move I had to!

I offered my 17 year old cousin £15 to walk my 7yo to school a few times when I had covid a few weeks ago - literally would need to walk to my house, get my DD and walk to her school before carrying on to the bus stop to college (i was passed the 10 days but still felt rotten so wasn't going anywhere)

Apparently he couldn't commit and I'd have to call him every morning. He was also offended when my mum (who isn't related to him at all) came and did the school run for free for me!

A few months back and having lived abroad for twelve years, I gently suggested to DD that she start her passport application. Adding that it is a little tricky to find someone to check I.D. as they need to have known you for four years be a professional etc. More difficult in Covid and for school leavers cos in holidays you couldn't just pop in and get it signed. She needs to passport later this year to go on subject research trip.

She complained about the whole system and the way it is organised and how stupid it was.

I gently explained it was strict and tricky because passports are important things and unfortunately faked sometimes etc.

Four months later, she still hasn't managed to get the papers i.d'd and very soon it will be my fault, I know...

My 15year old is huffy with me because I have a song on my Spotify that he has(a song that came out when I was a kid, just revamped).
🤣 I've never seen someone performance delete a song before.

Last week I got my divorce settlement after more than five years.

Have been very sensible. No holidays booked. In first instance spent four days sorting finances.

After that thought I would plan a little treat for me.
Single parent, sometimes housework gets on top of me and we live in a seaside place and not on ground floor so windows need cleaner.

Rather than fiddle about with a seventy quid magnetic window cleaning thing I had the bright idea of getting a window cleaner as a one off!

I mentioned it to her, and by the look on her face you would have thought I had suggested a bank robbery.

No, mum I'll do it.

Never known her to clean windows...

So looks like I shall be getting a window cleaner clandestine(ly) is that even a word?

Go on, please laugh. This thread is really helpful and I've laughed out loud at every comment. It's also really helpful as I've often thought it was just me...

Somehow it's our fault that DC1's (16yo) train ticket was missing this morning. "But I left it on the stairs on Friday! I knew where it was! Now it's missing!"

We've had to pay £10 for a day return instead. But of course this is our duty to pay, because we lost the ticket in the first place. It would be beyond cruel to expect the poor child to fund this extra ticket. How could they afford bubble tea for the week if they had to pay?