Parenting A Teenager

Parenting a teenager is a hard job. You don't know right away if you are doing the right or wrong thing. I am now armed with piles of books. Among them are "Get out of my life, but first can you take me and Cheryl to the mall?" and one for mothers of teenaged daughters," I'm not mad, I just hate you." Add the TIME magazine Aug. 8 with the cover story about "Being 13 -- "I Am A Complicated Child", and I am way out of my skill set. Recently I had the luck of sitting next to a fascinating woman on the airplane who is a biochemistry professor with a special research interest in teenage brain function, or lack thereof, apparently. The brain turns to "mush", while your formerly, semi-communicative teen reacts to everything emotionally and only as it applies to them at that moment. This could go on for years, she says, as she was on her way to lecture a group of Middle School teachers.
But, she advises, your persistence and patience will pay off. Keep repeating logical actions and consequences ("if this happens, then.....) and someday, when the "mush" clears, there are defined neurological pathways for this-now adult to make their own, logical, rational decisions. So, she warns me not to be mad when you have reminded them they will need their housekey several times, but you later get a call, "Mom, I am at the door. How can I get in the house?" This had happened to her the week before. She swears that this too shall pass. Meanwhile, I keep flipping through these books for coping advice and strategies for not saying "the wrong thing."

Techno-phobia

Reading that people have trouble setting hotel alarm clocks hits home with me. I find it is a challenge and then you worry you won't be woken up when you need to and ask for a wakeup call just in case the alarm clock you brought from home fails as well. But, I am also one of those many folks who would not be able to program my VCR and have a blinking "12:00", cannot work the DVD player or the TIVO-like device in our house. My daughter cannot tell time from a regular clock due to the digital world, but she can work all the above equipment.
Oh well. To read about others like me, see http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/hotelsdumbdownalarmclocksforwearyguests