O.K. I get that being a teenager sucks. I understand that I'm supposed to let things go and not take anything personally.
Here's the thing. He's not a teenager. He's 12. And I don't care if it's time. I'm just not ready.
I can handle that asking him to take out the trash or empty half the dishwasher ends up in him responding with large, heavy, dramatic sighs plus stomping up the stairs. I can understand that telling him that electronics time is over and he must do something else means that he responds with drama. That's fine. I get that. Mr. Rix and I get ready for a picnic and he wants nothing to do with us. That's cool.
It's the dramatic switch that happens after dark that's weird to me.
I tell him that it's time to go to bed and suddenly I have to go upstairs with him, keep him company while he brushes his teeth, wait for him to climb up to his loft and switch his light off for him (see, he can't climb into bed in the dark.) And should I forget to turn the bathroom light on? Oh cheese and crackers.
He's this young man who wants to listen to Slipknot, play online RPGs, get his own MySpace account. And yet he wants to cuddle up on the couch and who pitches a fit if I'm on the phone with my sister during "family time".
Geez. I thought that having boys would be much easier. Shit.
YES WE DID!
AND WE DID THIS TOO!
2 comments:
I'll trade you, anytime!! Although, I give my girls credit for being pretty independant. Especially my 3 yr old who dresses herself for bed, insists on brushing her teeth and knows how to change a VCR movie.....
12 yrs old, I barely remember. I think I was pretty much on my own by then....!
Rix,
My 14 year-old son is the same way. He'll still lie next to me and revel in a head scratch, he still sleeps with his blankie (oh, god, it's a good thing he doesn't know I wrote this!)
I think the changes did start around 12, for him, too, with a desire for Axe bodyspray and Altoid mints... (I hope for your sake that the bodyspray phenom hasn't hit your household. Ugh.)
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