SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

I am quite sure my parents, at least my mom, could have written your post 20 years ago, tushnurse! :-) I was QUITE the handful (entitled, demanding)

It pretty much went away around 17?? Well, by 17 I was a lot better. I dont think it went away entirely until I had my own kids lol!!

Then around the age of 15 he barricaded himself in his room and only came out for food and bathroom breaks. He would sit at the computer with his head phones on and roll his eyes if I tried to get his attention. Then came the laptop and the video games.

This describes my 16 year old son pretty accurately!

I have three kids: 19, 16, 15.

To one extent or another…same shit, different child.

My son is the consummate eye roller. But I call him on it each and every time. I make fun of him: "Was that an eye roll??? What about the grunt?? Where's the grunt. And what are thinking right now…..God what an asshole Dad is???"

He can't help but giggle.

I choose to see through the shit and see the good people that I know are in there.

Really…..generally, it's a phase. I'm pretty sure my folks went through the same stuff with me, my brother and my sister. And..if I do say so myself…we all turned out to be pretty good self sufficient upstanding adults.

My 19 year old has made it through. She is a sophomore in college and a simply wonderful young woman.

I think if you don't take it personally….it'll work out. I mean…as angry as I get when one of the animals pisses or shits in the house…I don't take it personally. It's what they do. And so it is with teenagers.

And yes….I am definitely equating teenagers with remarkably dense four legged creatures. I have an equal amount of control over their behaviors.

Wow..accidently came upon this post looking at one in the R forum...coincidental timing??? Teenagers, I get... been there done that...but my youngest, my 21 year old daughter has hated me since she was 12...and her dad as well. Before then, she was little miss sunshine... she has made me proud in many ways...education, etc...but has issues. As I face the reality of her behavior, I am coming to realize that the issues may be more than just stress and entitlement...she may be bipolar...she blames everything on me and her dad and doesn't seem to be "outgrowing" it. To complicate matters, she has a child, my 2 year old granddaughter. They live with us...this is stressful in some ways, but at least we can keep an eye on the baby and make sure they are okay. After a major blowup, I am sort of doing a weird version of a 180 with her. Any suggestions on dealing with what I think may be a real mental issue, or just major sense of entitlement and blameshifting would be appreciated.

Thanks for all your input guys. I really do know that there is a wonderful person in there, she is awesome around friends, teachers, and other adults. So I get it just being a teen thing.

I feel bad for complaining about her, because now the poor kiddo is home sick with a URI, and is missing tests in 2 of her honors classes, so those will have to be made up. Last night she had a fever, and was coughing, and felt so lousy there was no way she could study. I sent her to bed a 6:30, and didn't hear from her again.

She was appreciative of Momma taking care of her yesterday, with tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, and good vapor rub massage.

Kids were made this way for a reason. So that when they go off to college we are relieved

When my dd was that age I wrote a chore list every day. I told her I was tired of hearing the crap and seeing the eye rolls. I wrote it and left the list on the table. My rule was that the list had to be done before bedtime. She could do it whenever she wanted but it had to be done right. It worked great and after about a week she was getting the chores done right after school so they weren't looming.

All of this reminds me of a joke that I was just told last weekend.

Why was Abraham asked to sacrifice Isaac when he was only 12?

.....

Because if he had turned 13 it wouldn't have been a sacrifice!

Teens! Oy!

Skan- love that!

My DS#1 was easy, VERY easy. But as an adult he has had more than his share of challenges. And recently we have had some verbal disagreements as we set boundaries that circumstances say we must, despite the fact that he should be long past this...

Anyway, after a recent blowup, he came with an apology, and a hug, saying that the way we brought him up, supportive and with boundaries are enabling him to navigate these difficulties easier than he would otherwise.

Be consistent, be loving, be a parent...