The drama of it all … the studying teen

“I’m off the study at a friends because I can’t possibly study here” the 17-year-old says. Actually he says it several times with a lot of dramatic emphasis. Clearly I’m to blame for something.It’s perhaps 4.15 pm – he’s slept in until 12, watched a bit of “Family Guy”, had something to eat, folded the junk run papers he should have done earlier in the weekend in front of the the TV, watched a bit more TV and is is now reponding to a mild request that isn’t it time for either study, cleaning up his room or actually getting out and delivering those papers.”I’m so stressed with all this study” I get. “And all this nagging.”Yep it sure is a hard life studying as hard as him! And nagging – it takes one reminder after a day’s sloth to send him into a spin.What to do?The drama queen manages to return about 6.30 for dinner. I refrain from comment for the rest of the evening on the complete lack of study for the next day’s exam.Quite probably I will be blamed one day for not insisting that he pull finger!

2 txt or nt 2 txt

2 txt or nt 2 txt is the question that plagues me at 1am in the morning – actually quite often at 2, 3 an 4 in the morning. Is the 17-year-old alive? Why is he not home safe in bed? Why indeed is he out when he has exams coming up?

The complete lack of control of one’s teen-aged children is a prospect that you can’t remotely imagine when you’re dealing with troublesome toddlers. And the trouble is some lucky mums never have to worry – but I am “blessed” with an independent teen who has bought his own car with his own money earned by him in jobs frequently at night time.

So what time does he finish work? I have no idea because I’m told it varies.Is it right to worry? Is it that I need a support group for mothers of teens? This particular teen age person has had two really really major car accidents but actually he’s bright motivated and will probably do well in life unless he kills himself in the process.

But … I worry … and it doesn’t make it much better to be told the next morning that during his driving around town in the early hours of the morning with four teen age girls (where on earth did their mothers thinks they were?) he was stopped and breath tested four times.Very funny – haha it was for them – because they hadn’t been drinking at all. Oh yes – and they headed out to Dennys as well – this does not comfort me one bit (the motorway drive, the dodgy area).

There’s always some danger lurking it seems. So then I wake and read the morning’s newspaper where it says that a man has been killed in the very kiwifruit picking town where the 19-year-old arrived yesterday to pick flowers for a month. And what happened? The man went to withdraw money and four young people set upon him because he was wearing blue the colour of a rival gang.

Don’t wear blue … 2 txt or nt 2 txt!