add me to your Technorati favorites!How to Respond to Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It
September 21st, 2006
Now that my step-children are in college, I find myself reflecting on the often laughable, two sentence conversations that we have survived. It is amazing to hear my co-workers recite these exact scenario’s with various responses. It confirms that my step-children were not unique in their angst:
Teen: “My friends think you are stupid for not letting me go with them!”
Response: “It’s a good thing I don’t care what your friends think.”
Teen: “I’m 16 and I don’t have to listen to you!”
Response: “I’m 42 and I still listen to my parents.”
Teen: “Who cares / What’s the big deal?”
Response: “I care. You’re the one making it a big deal.”
Teen: “I’m an adult and I can do what I want!”
Response: “You’re right, and adults deal with the consequences of their actions. Here are the consequences of your actions.”
Teen: “It’s my life!”
Response: “It’s my house.”
Teen: “Why do you care if I wear flip flops out in 2 feet of snow? Don’t I get to make my own choices?”
Response: “You can choose whatever you want, but you obviously need help narrowing down your choices.”
Teen: “It’s not fair!”
Response: “If it was fair, you’d do it again.”
Teen: “My friends mother is letting her go!”
Response: “If your friends mother pays for your college, she can have a say in what you do too.”
Teen: “I don’t care what people think, people should not judge me.”
Response: “So will you write a book so they can understand your stupid choices instead of judging you by your actions?”
Teen: “Dad swears and cusses… why can’t I?”
Response: “Adult language is for adults that understand where it is acceptable and where it is not; It is NOT acceptable in front of your parents.”
Teen: “I need to live it up now before I get too old to have fun… these are the best days of my life!”
Response: “Don’t peak too early. If these are the best days of your life then why do you complain so much?”
Technorati tags: Teens , Angst , Response , Parenting , Conflict+Resolution , ProBlogger
Entry Filed under: WTF?
18 Comments Add your own
1. How to Assemble the Bigge&hellip | September 21st, 2006 at 6:08 am
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
2. Brad Shorr | September 21st, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Brilliant. Where were you 5 years ago? My teenage daughters left me tongue-tied on a daily basis!
3. Weary Parent&hellip | September 21st, 2006 at 2:47 pm
[…] I swear that my kids took lessons from Christina’s teens because I have heard all of those lines before and I’m pretty sure that my responses were pretty close too. Funny how amusing those two sentence conversations are, when they aren’t your kids. So, it’s true, most teens all think the same way and parents do as well. […]
4. Jersey Girl | September 21st, 2006 at 5:13 pm
my boys are 12 and 15…i’ve heard plenty of those!
5. MamaDuck | September 21st, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Ah, I see…. a glimpse into my future….. ACK!!! LOL this is great, I love it! Our how-to is up as well if you’d like to check it out!!
6. Matt | September 22nd, 2006 at 12:23 am
I have said some of those things to my parents in the past. ahhh the memories! My How To is up also.
7. Change your thoughts &raq&hellip | September 23rd, 2006 at 6:14 am
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
8. Questallia » Problo&hellip | September 23rd, 2006 at 1:04 pm
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
9. Mark Choon » The Bi&hellip | September 23rd, 2006 at 2:25 pm
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
10. Ask blushgirl - Romance A&hellip | September 24th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
11. Your Healthiest Life &raq&hellip | September 24th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
[…] Kelly Curtis at Pass the Torch has a post on skills for listening to your kids which lists communication skills that are useful for all conversations, not just those with children. And Kristonia Ink! has stock answers for typical teenage complaints: How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It. I’m sure those will come in handy for me in a few years. […]
12. Chewing Pencils: Helping &hellip | September 25th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
13. yenjai | September 26th, 2006 at 1:12 am
Haha. I had a good laugh.
My kids are still too young.
I guess I will get to this stage
14. Kristonia Ink! » Fu&hellip | September 26th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
[…] How to Respond to a Teenage Angst and Live to Smile About It by Christina […]
15. Corinne | September 26th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Children and Teens are the same all over the world, aren’t they?
16. Lori | October 2nd, 2006 at 7:02 am
Don’t you feel like as parents we should just mass produce a deck of cards with those answers? Then we could shuffle thru, pick out a good one and just hand it over - no more arguing, no more haggling. We’d be like fortune tellers - here’s the answer! lol
Great post - made me laugh. Thanks!
17. eastcoastlife | October 10th, 2006 at 8:34 am
ha ha….great post. And brilliant replies! My son doesn’t dare to be disrespectful to my hubby & I, but I hear such remarks from my friends’ children & my students. I’m going to make copies of these & distribute to parents.
18. Tim | October 18th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Haha, great! I especially liked the second last one. I hope my parents won’t find out about this.
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