Late onset arsey teen?

[BonjourBonheur]

DS is nearly 17. He’s generally a really lovely boy, funny, kind, and we’ve always had a good relationship. He hasn’t been too tricky as a teen. However recently he’s become hypercritical of me and nothing I can do is right-

• I am not sufficiently disgusted by feet
• I am not very good at locating where in space a sound is coming from
• my glasses case is the wrong colour
• The music I listen to isn’t cool
• The way I pronounce crème fraiche is too French
• I use the TV remote controls in an inefficient order
• Our garden furniture isn’t the right sort

etc, etc, endless trivial things. I have started picking him up on it as I’m not willing to be endlessly criticised especially over such pointless things, and to be fair he generally apologises. Just wondered if perhaps this means that, rather than having got through the teenage years unscathed, we’re actually just at the start 😭

Well done for getting this far - he sounds like a lovely lad... It is a healthy part of growing up and how they distance themselves from their parents (ie: by rejecting everything that they know). Unfortunately it is a tedious but necessary storm to weather. My DD has been claiming her independnce since about year 8 🙄

I'm finding all the new interesting phases are each relatively short lived, as they change at hyper speed, so I don't think this means you've got 4 years of this. It's just a thing their brain is doing at the moment but great that you have the relationship where you can point it out, maybe even in a good natured way, and get an apology.

This sounds such a sweet version of teenage rebellion. I think you are doing pretty well if those are your crimes.

I think this is normal - he’s working out what furniture he would have etc - clumsy but fairly sweet compared to some teens!

Late bloomer. Most girls hit your third, fourth and fifth points by 11 or 12

Yep, normal teen! My DS, also 17, was explaining it to my sister. Apparently, if your parents do something, regardless of how cool it was seconds before it then stops being cool because it’s then a parent thing. He helpfully pointed out that it makes zero sense and that actually your parents might be really cool but teenage brains just can’t see that as an option.
As a PP said, it’s a normal phase: pulling away to prepare for independence. I’ve heard they come back.

Yep ds does the same, it is a bit like having a back seat driver but for adulting rather than driving.

I find a sense of humour and a thick skin helps for most comments.

Thanks, all- good to know it's not just us!