To start a thread that nobody responds to.

[VanillaSugar]

Boring thread alert.

Our thread has a distinctly elegiac tone today.

Could it be that today is finally the Apocalyse?

Could it be that today is finally the Apocalypse?

Don't you feel an ever-so-slight feeling of disappointment in the air every time an apocalypse doesn't actually happen?

I wonder what that means about our psyches?

Thank you, Better

I slept like the proverbial log last night.

Went to bed hungry but it was so worth it.

Can't believe we're almost half way! If you all get bored of this thread then I'm just going to keep posting "Bump"

I don't believe you'll have to do that.

This thread has taken on a life of its own. There is no way to stop this thing now

Portia

Hope you managed some sleep, despite all.

Of course your daughter loves you

She only says things like that because she's a teenager and moreover a teenager who is so confident in her mother's unshakeable love that she can explode like that, knowing you will always be there just the same.

I never told either of my parents I didn't love them. Don't mistake that for a good relationship though. I never challenged them in any way whatsoever - I wouldn't have dared - but then I grew up in dysfunction.

I don't trust my mother and as an adult she has stopped speaking to me for up to two years at a time over something trivial. I have many tales to tell! Our relationship is just emails about the weather and bits and pieces of gossip and what we bought in town. Nothing meaningful ever and that's really the best way for us.

What I'm trying to say (badly) is that your daughter is confident you'll never let her down. She is a lucky girl and I'm sure she knows that.

I think you've absolutely got it there, toadgirl - the fact that Portia's daughter feels safe to explode, knowing her mother will never turn her back on her, is a sign of a strong, safe relationship.

The teenage years are tumultuous but it is just a very short stage in life and unreasonable, emotional teens turn into delightful, dependable adults.

Absolutely, Better

Looking back, none of us kids rebelled. Mum had us totally 100% under her control. We lived very rurally so that helped her cause. Everyone of us has had problems with addiction, broken relationships and sadly my sister has a broken relationship with her own daughter because she made the mistake of letting Mum move in with her when her daughter was just a baby.

The cycle continues in our family, I'm afraid.

A child having the confidence in her mother's love to be able to get her emotions out is a good thing.

I remember Mum always talking about "wild" teens and "bad" children when we were young. We knew how to behave apparently, but I look at many of these kids now and they've done so well in life compared to us and they see to have strong family ties and happy times.

Yes, you're absolutely right - sometimes the ones who don't/can't rebel end up faring worst in life. It's an essential stage in development for adolescents to rebel against their parents in order to claim their independence and become an adult in their own right. Completely natural and normal.

But obviously can be horrendous for parents at the time!

I got told by a communication peep that teenagers arguing with you at least means they care what you think

DD's tooth finally fell out last night. Tooth fairy cuteness!

Blimey, this is better than therapy! I never dared tell my DM that I never loved her because once a week, usually on a Tuesday at 4.30pm, she would have a meltdown and shout "I've sacrificed twenty years of my life for you" an she made sure that we never forgot that. She used to write a list of all the terrible things that my step-father had done to annoy her and then once a year - always on the night before her birthday - she would read out the list to her husband and then they'd have a terrible row and her birthday would be ruined. Every year. Without fail.

I'm just surprised that I'm as normal as I am, actually.

Bloody hell Vanilla a list? That really must have been something!

I was thinking, last night, Vanilla, that your meeting with Jeremy seemed to have all the ingredients for a great romantic comedy - you with your teenage daughter, him with his teenage son. I was sure there was going to be at least one generation pairing up...

What's the going rate for the Tooth Fairy these days, Mrs TP? I remember those days so fondly now that we're bankrupt after uni fees, deposits on flats etc.

Well she gets $1 for a normal tooth, $2 for a special tooth (first one, front one) and she got an extra dollar last night because she let me pull it (it was hanging by a thread!). So $3 last night! I got ripped!

That sounds very generous - I'm surprised she doesn't have a full set of dentures by now.

No she wants to hang onto them. A weird saving plan if you will. Although she just spent all her pocket money on fish so we'll see if that changes things!

Fish? Live or salted?

I cannot believe you pulled her tooth out. Are you Australian, by the way? If so, so you live near Katherine in NT?

Aren't you in Canada, Mrs TP? In which case, do you know my cousin Janet who lives in Toronto?

Vanilla

she would have a meltdown and shout "I've sacrificed twenty years of my life for you" an she made sure that we never forgot that

That sounds familiar! We used to get similar. My dad got it too during rows. She also told us from a very young age (I was 10 and the eldest) that she wanted out of her marriage and was staying and putting up with stuff for our sakes and as soon as the youngest was 16, that was it. She kept her word too. So our childhood was sort of waiting for Mum's wish of getting out of her marriage to come true, with us being the barriers to that.

She used to write a list of all the terrible things that my step-father had done to annoy her and then once a year - always on the night before her birthday - she would read out the list to her husband and then they'd have a terrible row and her birthday would be ruined. Every year. Without fail

Sick! Wow Sorry, I keep bringing up Seinfeld as I'm a HUGE fan and there seems to be so many examples which fit threads here. Reminds me of Festivus, a festival which George's verrrry dysfunctional father made up to replace Christmas. Amongst other things, part of it is to list ways in which your family had disappointed you in the year just ended, called "The Airing of Grievances".

Vanilla - she must know one or the other! (Small world, eh?)

Live fish! Tetras and three of them. I do live in Canada and of course I know Janet. Lovely woman but a terrible cook (or something).

I'm British. And Canadian as well since last year.

Where are we all? I'm West Coast Canada.

Actually, getting on my high horse, Katherine is a town south of Darwin and it is WELL hard. So hard, in fact, that mothers pull out their own children's teeth. Whilst making them bite the tops off coke bottles. Ha!!

But HELP ME! I'm making ratatouille and I've run out of garlic. Fml.

They sell garlic in Aldi

HTH