When you have teenagers, you MUST have a dog
17 March 2014
I read something the other day, and it gave me pause for
thought. It also really made me
laugh. And then almost made me cry.
“When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a
dog in the house, so that someone is happy to see you”.
Ain’t that the truth!
I have one teen, in the house. A boy.
And we’re right in the thick of things with hormones, attitude, and
general teenage-ish-ness. All pretty
normal. Standard practice. Part of the parenting-a-teen-landscape. Who knows.
I might even have been disappointed if I didn’t have this
experience. As if I’ve missed out on
some parenting rite of passage of sorts.
And then I have another almost-teen in the house. And this one is a girl. Her hormones have been all over the show, for
over a year already. Loads of
eye-rolling, obsessions with clothes, pop music, make-up and then there’s the
boys. Who can resist the boys. And the problem is that these young girls are
so gorgeous from so young, that they get a lot of attention. From boys.
Boys who are immature and child-like, cause the girls that are their
peers, are emotional streets ahead of them.
Galaxies in fact.
The last child in my home, is still just that – a
child. However, he’s playing catch-up
you see. Mimicking behaviour of an older
brother and sister. And hence I can see
bits of him racing for the teenage finish line.
Even though he is just a little boy.
And doesn’t quite understand them at times. For now, he’s obsessed with sports, and
running in the garden, playing with the dogs, marbles, etc. He just wishes that he was older too. That he also had the privileges that came
with being slightly older. I imagine him
feeling at times, like he is in a foreign country. Almost out of place, amidst the teens and
almost-teens.
Teenagers are not known for their enthusiasm. For their joie de vivre. For their happiness. For their exuberance.
Especially around adults.
Particularly in front of parents.
I am forever optimistically hopeful, that they are indeed
capable of this depth of emotion. That
it does exist. Though, I’m guesstimating,
that they choose to show these range of emotions to their friends only. Lest the adults in their life, mistakenly
assume they’re not dissatisfied. And
thus positive feelings such as joy, delight, gratitude, optimism and caring are
reserved for display to their inner circle and their inner circle only. Their “peeps” if you like.
Though to be fair, a few outside stimuli are capable of
enticing some of these positive emotions too.
Stimuli like chocolates.
Treats. Gifts. Money.
Yip, those work pretty well.
However just giving them “normal” things like three meals a day, a roof
over their head, carting them about, etc. – well those don’t get special
mention at all. As far as they are
concerned, this falls under the heading of entitlement. They deserve these things already. No extra gratitude needed.
Why, around teenagers, it would be quite easy to develop a
low self-esteem. A feeling of never
really making the grading and doing something just right. Of always missing the satisfaction mark. Usually by a lot.
Which is why the sentence above brought forth such emotion
from me. It IS good to have a dog, when
you’ve got a teenager in the house.
Cause the dog will ALWAYS be happy to see you and show gratitude for
even the smallest affection bestowed upon them.
Actually, even a cat will do. Twirling itself between your legs while
you’re walking. Curling up next to you
wherever you’re sitting.
Heck, in comparison, even a goldfish, looks happy. Far more eager for affection.
And great with conversation. Fantastic listeners.
Added bonus being that they don’t roll their eyes at you.
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Oh boy!! Too much truth!
ReplyDeleteBut they do eventually get over it - I promise!!
xxx
This too will pass! But the memory stays - I can still hear my kids rolling their eyes!!
ReplyDelete