Tell me about your teenager's stupid behaviour

[TeenagedTwit]

16yo
Wants a job. Apparently.
Weirdly, a job hasn't fluttered into his bedroom and landed on his lap so he is most perplexed.

Picked up an application form for him from a local supermarket.
Encourage him to get a pen (no easy feat) and sit down to complete application.

20 seconds later... "What's my name?"

And that was just the beginning. I swear a 4yo would make a better employee. I fear for our future.

Note from MNHQ - we've edited the title as we had a few reports about one of the terms used there. We're sure there was no intention to offend but it was clearly upsetting a few people and we didn't want the issue to derail the thread

Mine for reasons best (and only) known to him refuses to wear appropriate clothing for his sport training. He has warm, waterproof kit designed for this sport, but will appear in pyjama bottoms (ok, they look like thin joggers, but still), and a cotton hoody which will absorb water nicely to train in on a wet sub zero day and freeze rather than wear actual kit. I'd sympathise if the kit didn't suit him, but it does and he has no problems swanning around in the tighter racing kit at events. He's just contrary

I don’t think it’s strictly PC to use the phrase “moron” any longer though

Friend of 20 asked me when making pot noodles how I knew when the water in the kettle had boiled.

The not washing is very normal

My brother once went away with the scouts and didn't wash/change pants,socks and the outer clothing for a whole fortnight

His sponge,flannel and toothbrush where dry

I remember my mother going spare and attacking behind his ears with a toothbrush

My own (then teen) ds tried doing the same

I remember being so bloody fed up with it, made him get in the shower and used a new yard brush to keep him in there until he was clean-I sank to poking him with it every time he tried to get out

(I think it was about ten minutes before the water ran clean

About a week later,he walked past me with a towel over him arm (he'd got a girlfriend)

We laugh about it now-me through gritted teeth

Tell me AI wrote your post without telling me

This thread is funny.

My teenage niece once used a large sieve to pour a pan of spaghetti in, to drain it. Brilliant idea, except she did it over my sister's worktop, not the sink. Gloopy water everywhere.

My (young) adult son blew up the microwave at work heating his soup. He'd taken a tin and carried it in his microwaveable soup cup, opened the tin at lunchtime and just dropped it back into the cup without decanting it. His nickname has been Oxfail ever since.

It's OK to moan when our kids exasperate us.

Yes, it is.

Some of the situations here are beyond 'exasperation' though, like yours:

Yes my little drama queen phoned police to complain I wouldn't let his girlfriend come over. Was genuinely outraged that they didn't arrest me on the spot. They did come out though!

That's shocking behaviour, as is the running away & calling child services + the one where the poster was treated for a non-existent MH condition. Really shocking not humorous, if true.

Ahh you have made me smile OP so true

Especially love where you mention job fluttering into laps, I'm picturing them being delivered by Owl Mail like in Harry Potter

Yes I wondered that too

Me too!

Everyone I know has high achieving kids DDs age (15) who were able to safely cook themselves a roast dinner age 4 and I've been worrying I must have dropped her on her head in the hospital or something, she's so utterly clueless at times.

Oh dear

Prior to covid, I came home from work to find both DC's sitting in a dark house with lighted candles, both completely forlorn over a power cut.
There was no power cut. Apparently they came home and asked Alexa to turn on the lights and TV, unbeknownst to them the Alexa was unplugged and for about 2hrs neither of them thought to just physically turn a light on.

this thread is cheering me up because he does loads of these; yes/no answers to either/or questions, wrong clothes, doesn’t know where anything is, forgets his own head, comes in to chat when the light is out! Generally just bamboozled by life. It’s like trying to elicit responses from some poor shambolic being who’s just arrived on earth, and don’t get me started on the time-keeping. He’s suddenly got very tall, I don’t know if it’s just taking that bit longer for messages to leave the brain and reach the feet/fingers.

🤣🤣 That is so funny!

DD1 has decided to be an actor. She has never had an acting lesson and she has no intention of starting with them either. She has no experience either. She also auditioned for the major acting schools in our country without asking advice from the many (MANY) people I know (all ages, including some who lecture in these institutions). Was utterly gobsmacked when she was never offered a place.
Meanwhile, she’s picked her Oscars outfit….

DS has form for standing in front of the fridge/cupboard/folded laundry/whatever - bellowing “Muuuuum! Have you seen the…?/My….?” In exasperation I resorted to shrieking “Do I look like fucking Alexa? Use your own eyes!”

(Next door has four teenaged boys - she is great to drink a gin with when it gets too much!)

Love this!

i remember my neighbour calling me when i was out saying my 14yo was upset. I had tried calling the house (back in the days when we had a landline) and she hadn't thought to answer. Never did answer the phone or doorbell. She can insta within an inch of her life but actually use a phone to talk?! No way

@Fraaahnces that story about your daughter auditioning for drama school made me chuckle. I mean, you've got to admire her chutzpah. Nc that's the thing with teens, they can't find a plate or a bin, but they can get themselves to London to audtion for drama school

@Catza is it very bad that my first reaction was to be amazed that she got that level of support for the nonexistent MH condition?

I once held a pan of spaghetti over the sink and tipped it out to drain. Only I had forgotten to put the colander in the sink. Found myself looking down at a mass of pasta sprawled all over the bottom of the sink. I was a supposedly functioning adult at the time, too.

My eldest Ds was a complete arse from 16-17.
Walked out at 17 because he couldn't stand all the rules he had to live under...
Our rules were.. Bring dirty cutlery down from your room and put your dirty clothes in the wash basket.
Do the dishes on a Sunday after I cooked the dinner.
Let us know if you aren't coming home because DH and I went to bed at midnight and we would be locking the front door ( wouldn't give him another key because he'd already lost 2 when drunk with his friends)
He went to school and told them we'd chucked him out and he couldn't live with such controlling parents..!!

And he never came home again.
They placed him with a guardian in her home till he was 18. What a shock when he found that he had to help with chores. More than I'd asked him to do at home. And he had a curfew with her too. And at 18 he had to fend for himself.. He got a studio flat, a job and realised that life isn't easy..
All the freedom he wanted wasn't quite as wonderful as he'd thought..
But he's now 29. And he's lovely. And mortified at his behaviour at 17
Took a lot of work but we mended out relationship with him

Years ago now my then 18 year old ds asked for a Yorkshire pudding. I asked why as we were having pasta for tea. He said he wanted it to use as an ashtray! That was the day I found he was smoking, he hadn’t told me.

ODFOD.

If you are serious then I hope your son can get urgent help before he goes too far downhill. That’s a hell of a drug to quit after initial exposure.

This Isn’t moronic, it’s an absolute tragedy.