It's all about them

Just a heads up for all y'all who'll have teenagers some day - they are a big ball of contradictions and if you're not careful it'll drive you nuts! Oh, let me share some examples... Yesterday Becky and I were out shopping (since I have pretty much nothing done and Christmas is in one week shopping is my whole goal this week) and we picked up the boys (Justin & 2 friends) and took them to the mall. Of course we separated as soon as we got there - you know, we wouldn't want to embarrass them, they surely wouldn't want to be seen with two old women and two loud little kids. (Seriously, they're really loud! My nephews have this thing for screeching and its not cool. And the 2 year old laughs and smiles so big when you tell him no, he just loves it if he causes trouble!) Later, we saw the boys in the food court and I waved. This was most embarrassing to all of the boys! Then I called to Justin (he wasn't very far so it wasn't a yell or anything) and asked if he wanted some money. Well, yeah! I said, 'oh, we can talk to you as long as we're giving you money, huh?' He said yes. Envision a roll of the eyes here.



One more example. The last couple days I told Justin he could ride the bus to school and he said that's so unfair 'you're off today!' I reminded him that I have tons to do. He doesn't care. I reminded him that I've not showered, I'm in my pajamas, have racoon eyes, and my hair looks like I stuck my finger in light socket and (I didn't remind him of this but I was reminding myself) I didn't have a bra on - and as any post-baby woman knows, that is not good and you just should never go out in public w/o a bra! Do you think he cares? Well, no. At least not this time. He'd really rather have a ride to school than have to ride the awful bus. Perhaps I can just put a hat on?



So, the bottom line is, it's all about them. Just remember, you'll never get it unless you think about each situation and figure out what it is they want to get out of it and how you can help them the most. Then, you can see how even the most embarrassing situations will be 100% fine with them, so long as they end up on top.