Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Those Teenage Years

The past few nights, Dave and I have been taking turns hanging out with our friends' kids while our friends have some time away. Now, as I have confessed on the blog before, I am dreading the teenage years. It scares me to have two teenagers around to deal with all the time. However, these past few nights have basically been a small vacation for Dave and I and here's why...

On Monday I drove Aaron to hockey practice and then I went and sat at Starbucks, drinking a white chocolate mocha for an hour and a half and reading a book. When I picked Aaron up he was ready and waiting, with his coat on and everything. He did not make a fuss about sitting in the car and putting his seat belt on. It was quite refreshing.
Both kids announced, "I'm going to bed" and that was that. I didn't have to read them stories, bring them endless glasses of water, or convince them they should really try peeing "one last time." Also, no one woke me up in the middle of the night.
Last night Elhana made us pancakes for supper. Did you read that??? She made us supper. Thus, there was no fussing about eating the meal, nor were there pre-dinner meltdowns.
After supper Elhana entertained Sam and Rachel with her science project of a magnesium atom. Both of the teenagers helped clean up after the meal and said "Thank you," even though they were the ones who made dinner.

After this experience, I am so looking forward to having teenagers in the house!

PS. I do realize that there is a huge difference between hanging out with a couple of teenagers who have been raised well and being the person who is doing the raising of them. These past few days I got to take advantage of the first, while having none of the frustrations of the second.

9 comments:

  1. Haha this is definitely encouraging, though!! Perhaps you should have those kids' parents give you all their insider tips on raising such awesome teenagers! Or maybe the teens could be Sam and Rachel's mentors?? Train them up in the way they should go?

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  2. It is hard for me to even conceive that one day my children will be able to do all these things themselves!

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  3. Oh my, I was laughing so hard while reading this that I thought I was going to wet myself! You are so funny. : )

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  4. Oh my goodness!! I definitely snorted at this post!! SO hilarious...yes, I definitely understand your monkey-wrangling trying to get everyone in coats, and seatbelts....pre-dinner meltdowns/I hate dinner/why didn't you serve me peanut butter/i never sit down during dinner ever.....so understand that too! And let's not even discuss bedtime. It exhausts me. Right now teenagers sound divine! ;) (*and yes...i know, i know...like you,i don't want to hear all the problems that come with them...i would rather live in oblivion- hah! :)

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  5. Thanks for the glimpse of what may be ahead! I would love a dinner without complaining or spilled milk. And kids announcing that they're going to bed, wow!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. Yes, some of these things seem so unimaginable right now, especially the bedtime announcement :)

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  6. I'm very amused that you're afraid of teenagers! haha. I was every parents worst nightmare as a child (seriously! my parents always say that if I was born first instead of last that they'd only have one kid and not four!) but I was a dream as a teenager. While my friends were out experimenting with alcohol and other stupid things on Friday nights I was coaching special olympics. Give teenagers a fair chance! haha

    That magnesium atom is also super cool!

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    1. I will not be scared of teenagers if they are like you!!!

      And, yes, I was super-impressed by the atom project as well.

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  7. Okay, first off, I was reading this whole post just hoping you would tell us where you got Sam and Rachel that cool looking toy from because I was going to get online and try to buy one. Haha! Hmmm, maybe I can make them an atom to play with? ;-) Yes, these guys do make teenagers sound pretty terrific. Maybe we can just send our kids to their parents and let them "train" them right? ;-)

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