avoid it with luck and a little skill.
Okaaaay, so I was wrong. Really
wrong. (I admit it. Sometimes I’m a little delusional.) Despite my efforts to fight it, I am no
longer smart; at least, not according to my teenage son. I am officially stupid.
a little at my naivete. How did I hope
to avoid this parental curse? Do I have
some magic suit that can deflect teenage scorn?
Or perhaps some psychic ability that allows me to see into the teenage
mind and unravel it’s mysteries for the betterment of the world? Maybe I have a super-secret brainwashing
technique that I use to “mold” the minds of tomorrow’s leaders? Um.
Nope. Not only do I NOT have any
of those cool but questionable tools to help me avoid the “Parental Teenage Curse”, it totally snuck up on me!
stage yet as a parent or 2) don’t remember going through it as a teen, let me
enlighten you to a common and extremely annoying stage that many teenagers go
through. You see, there comes a time in
a teen’s life when he or she realizes that their parents are completely
clueless and have little or no redeeming value whatsoever. They, on the other hand, have reached a level
of enlightenment that is exceeded only by Einstein on a REALLY good day. You know what I mean, on a day when he got a
great night’s sleep, took his vitamins, and got pumped at the gym.
- Give me attitude about going to Mass (I’m talking to you my sweet offspring.)
- Dress like a slob for a dressy occasion and resist all my efforts to correct. (Still talking to you kids.)
- Be told what I will like or dislike. (I’ll decide that for myself, thank you.)
But, the one thing that drives me up the wall faster than no other irritant is……someone telling me I’m wrong when I KNOW I’m right!
I realize that I can’t make my teenager think I’m intelligent or wise. The only thing I can change is me. When I realized that I was getting WAY too upset over being told I was wrong, I felt so silly. Here I am , a grown woman, letting a fourteen year-old push my buttons by going through a typical fourteen year-old phase.
So as of now, I’m letting go of being right. After all, It’s about pride and my pride could use a little shrinkage. My new phrase will be “I may be wrong but…” I’m hoping by admitting my fallibility right upfront it will make me better able to handle the fact that I’m most assuredly wrong–at least for the next few years or so.
Blessings from the flawed but blessed,
Laura
Laura B Nelson 