To find my 13 yo so impossible!

[Covgal83]

Just that really. Nothing I do is good enough. I’m an awful Mum. I never listen. Urgh.

I trued to imagine my teenagers as large toddlers. It worked very well and made me more patient with them.

I'm the same, shit mother award! They only like you when they want something 🤣

You are not an awful mum. It’s such a tricky age, your child is finding their feet on the way to becoming an adult. Be there for them.

Hang in there. Pick your battles. They do come out of the other side..... eventually

This too will pass. I promise it gets better.

Apparently the logic behind this is that the realisation hits that you are not perfect. The criticism is to help you improve as it is terrifying when they discover their parents have faults and they don’t feel safe any more. Childhood is eroding and they’re freaking out.

I have 4 and my youngest is 12. The best advice I got was to pick your battles. Some fights are just not worth it.

I agree.

The battles seem to come to me more often than not!

My daughter is exactly the same, except she is 41.

😀

OP, I have a 13 year old, who is part cuddly little boy, and part permanently raging or weeping giant. It’s incredibly frustrating, but entirely developmentally normal.

Reading these reminds me how much easier my son is now age 18 then he was age 12/13/14. I’ve almost erased those years from my mind. He argued and complained about everything. Now he’s pretty lovely.

Well 13 year olds are notoriously selfish, thoughtless, unreasonable and self centred - at least some of the time! You have to ignore a lot of it, I'm afraid 😏 they do come out of it and become lovely human beings again! Parenting teens requires a shift in your mindset - more of a negotiation than a dictatorship. So if they want you to do X then they have to do X, be firm and calm but don't give in for a quiet life.