If I'd kept the receipt perhaps I could have complained, got a refund, or even an exchange, but my teenager isn't something I can really blame anyone else for, no-one is at fault, because being a teenager is such a complex thing, and trying to understand it takes honesty and patience.
It is rebellion or just angst?, how can someone develop their values without testing just about everyone around them, to see what its like to be adored or even despised?, surely the someone who ends up with a rounded sense of values has challenged the rules, in order to form an individual and rounded definition of things they really love or hate.
We are all part of a large jigsaw in society, and we all have our place in the big picture, but where do we fit in, and who can decide for us? deciding for ourselves, is part of the autonomy that teenagers desire, and although they may appear to have the invincible and all-knowing jacket on, the truth is that they are probably feeling inadequate and scared.
Then whilst they are having to deal with all their physical and hormonal changes they also have their peers' hormonal and physical changes, to cope with, and the melting pot continues to boil until the heat is turned down, which I would say is about around the time when all the important decisions and exams have been taken... Yeah too bloody late!
I think as parents or carers we need to make ourselves accessible and slightly sympathetic with a little bit of impartiality thrown in, in order to form a nice bond with our teenagers so that the confusion when met can be spoken about or shared, you cannot enforce rules and punishment with your children without a relationship otherwise you will end up with adolescent anarchy.
'Smells like Teen Spirit ' to me, Hello Hello Hello How Low..
Profound! They can still be little shits though!
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