Teenage DD moody and irritable all the time!

[Whitesky75]

Is this normal for teenagers? DD is 16. She does nothing all day. No interest in showering or doing things she enjoys (playing the piano etc)
She is moody and irritable. She says she is fine!

Literally the most normal thing in the world. She won't stay that way forever, but teens being moody and sullen is very very usual. Apparently it's important developmentally - you're supposed to find your children hard to tolerate, and vice versa, to encourage them to fly the nest. This too shall pass.

Very normal! Do you not remember being a moody teen?

Totally normal, @Whitesky75.

There is a book called Divas and Doorslammers, where the author, Charlie Taylor, says that, basically, during adolescence, the teenage brain is retiring - structural changes - and during these changes, they lose certain abilities, such as empathy, mood control, temper control, sense of perspective. He describes this as a form of temporary brain damage, which sounds scary, but the important word is temporary. Once the rewiring is complete, and things settle down again, they get back all, or most of these abilities.

Ds3 went through this the worst of my three, and he honestly did come out the other side as a well adjusted, decent, empathetic person.

It’s a rite of passage. All those hormones in flux affect mood,
Not so different from irritable and moody middle aged women like me due to perimenopause.

I'd discuss whether she would be happy to try the pill, it can be a game changer at regulating hormones - or make things worse

Normal in my experience.

Easier said than done but try not to let it bring you down. She is less dependent on you so enjoy some free time, get outside as much as poss and try not to take it personally.

A very good poem exists about dropping the rope. Someone else will link to it.

Basically, they push us and test us but hang on in there.

This is it.

mumcentral.com.au/letter-your-teenager-cant-write-you/

Totally normal for a teenager to be moody and grubby, honestly. I was probably at my most scuzzy and gloomy from the ages of 14-16!