What age do you think is the worst teenage stage?? Give me hope 😬

[Dickorydockwhatthe]

Ds turned 14 in October so is in year 9 and I can honestly say I’m not liking him much at the moment 😞. He is just so ungrateful and selfish. Nothing we do is good enough or fair. He wants to spend all day everyday on the Xbox, thinks he should go to bed when he wants ( if he stays up past 10pm he’s horrendous next day!!). He is lazy and doesn’t help with anything even things like emptying his own bag or making his bed, he won’t shower for days and just eats and moans sayig he doesn’t care or he hates his life!! The attitude and answering back has peaked to the point I now have to ignore or walk away!!! Please tell me it will get better!! 😬

I think it depends on the individual too. Ds is 14 and whilst he is on his Xbox a lot I don't find him stroppy at all. He's in the shower everyday (masturbating I think ) so no issues there!!! Maybe the strops will kick in soon god though I hope not.

Dd is 15 and I haven't found her too bad either, I may be being waaaaaaay too smug though and they be late bloomers 😖😖😖

I do have to remind myself that I suffer with my own emotions and can be completely irrational!! But at times when he’s moaning and huffing, I find it draining and end up snapping back 😞

Teenage boys 16-18

I’ve got a 15 year old who has got through the worst of it already (I think!). I have another younger teen- we r fastening our seatbelts as it already feels like it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Wd recommend the book ‘Get out of my life, but first can you take me and Alex into town ‘. It’s very real and addresses the extremes of teen behaviour. Also, have a look on YouTube at some of the stuff from Dan Siegel- I found it gave me a different take on things making things a little bit easier to deal with. Good luck xx

My 22 yr old is now amazingly lovely but was dreadful from 14-18. My 18 yr old is improving but is on the spectrum so it's a bit different. My 20 yr old is still pretty awful a lot of the time, but with interludes of maturity.

Based on my DC, boys 14-16 girls 12-17 and still counting!

Worst years are 14 for girls and 15 for boys (in my humble experience).
You have to learn to let a lot of things go by the board - swearing, laziness, rudeness, lack of personal hygiene for boys, obsessive personal hygiene for girls, lateness, grunting lack of communication, secrecy, head-in-air utter stupidity... And then it just starts to go away and they turn into fascinating interesting people who are about to take over the world !!

PS - have stolen the word "floordrobe" from this thread...

I completely agree with the mobile phones making things worse. It creates isolation and also anxiety as you never know what's they are looking at.

Re teenage behaviour I really struggle with the selfishness of a 16 & 18 year old boy in my family. They are lovely boys but seem to have scant regard for my feelings. I just feel like I'm there to wash, cook, provide money but when I ask for them to do something with me it's not important. Makes me really sad ☹️. It's a tough time.

Mine is 15 and can be an utter knob. But is also fabulous company at times so it’s swings and roundabouts

13-14 for both our kids - tapered off when I started to understand them and their new ways a bit more.

Mine is 15. 14 was horrendous and I am not enjoying 15 either! She has turned into a complete slob who permanently has a mobile phone in hand and thinks she can snap and snarl at me all day. Am hoping things improve as we were so close.

My DD1 is just 17 and things have been gradually improving for about a year with the odd set back.

At 15 she was disappearing overnight without letting me know where she was, getting excluded from school for throwing tables or turning up stoned amongst other things and being generally pretty rude.

She has spent the last couple of days with us as a family, grateful for what she gets and actually bought the family gifts by herself, including sister necklaces for her sisters. She has also said she wants to do a Deadpool marathon (not sure it's a marathon with only 2 films!) with me.

Two years ago I didn't think I would ever be saying this but it does get better.

@Dickorydockwhatthe I could have written your post exactly as you put it, about my DS in year 9.

"I hate my life...", especially when I pull him up on disrespectful and shocking behaviour. He wasn't hating it five minutes beforehand when he was laughing hysterically about JackSepticEye or what have you whilst mainlining Doritos

My favourite is "10pm is a baby's bedtime"

What a hard time of our lives