Here’s the thing. I have two teenage boys. This makes me very easily pleased.
Let me explain.
Teenage boys have a knack for doing things that parents don’t particularly like. They can be rude, non communicative, loud, clumsy and downright unpleasant to be around.
They can also be loving, kind, tender, well mannered and you can just absolutely love them to bits. More often than not, though, they tend to be like the former. This is why I’m easily pleased.
There are times I despair and worry that my boys are not going to turn out to be contributing members of society. I worry that their seemingly constant need to non conform will see them do something that might ruin their future opportunities. I worry that their laziness will render them permanently immobile. I worry that their potty mouths will mean they won’t fit into mainstream society. I worry that they will never give up smoking. I worry that they drink to much. I worry about drugs. I worry that the fact they did not try hard at school will mean they won’t succeed in a career. I worry that they will never find the thing that makes them feel alive. I worry that they will never have enough money to buy a home. I worry that I wasn’t tough enough on them.
I worry about a million different things.
Teenage boys take risks. Teenage boys like to live on the edge. Sometimes I think they deliberately hang over the edge just to see what happens. Teenage boys scare me.
The other day, both my boys attended the Future Music Festival in Brisbane. Apparently it is awesome and cannot be missed. It is mandatory to start drinking with breakfast so you have enough time to be comfortably drunk by the time it starts at midday. Apparently. When I suggested this might be taking it a bit too far, I swear they looked at me like I just spoke Mandarin. They then all meet at someone’s house and continue drinking until the maxi taxi’s arrive to take everyone to the venue, which happened to be Doomben Racecourse. It was pouring rain, stinking hot and my babies were heading out with thousands of other teenagers to a wild festival of music, alcohol and party drugs. As a mum of teenagers, this makes me worry.
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I have 4 beautiful sons, 22, 19,13,and 6 and wouldn't swap them for the world. I feel I have been running the gauntlet of teenage years for ever. Give me teenagers any day. Too much work with the little ones. I have a fanatastic relationship with my older boys and although worry at times, you would put yourself in an early grave if you worried all the time. You just have to trust that you have instilled in them good values and hope for the best. When I was having my fourth child everyone would assume that I was trying for that elusive girl. WRONG!!! At that stage I didn't want to bring a girl into my world of boys, no doubt she would have been feral. People assume that every mum wants a girl. When I was 16 I said to my Mum, I never want girls. I'm not putting girls down and have three beautiful nieces who I adore but I just didn't think I was a girls sought of Mum. Once again with the 13 yr old I am diving into the world of teenagerland and just think you have to keep the lines of communication open. I keep up with current trends, and their music and try to keep an open mind about everything. I feel sorry for my 6 year old who by the time is a teenager will have a Mum who is in her late 50's. I think his older brothers will need to take him under their wing. Oh well, they say they keep you young, hopefully this is the case.
Yes , they are such a handful. Girls aren't much better. Only thing about a girl is the fact that you as a mother will have signs when they begin sexually active. One the other hand with a boy you will have to play the guessing game for about the first year or so