Teenagers!

I am the mother of three teenage boys who are 18, 16, and 14.  I am pretty experienced dealing with them, and I have come to the conclusion that my mother was always right!  She has always said that once a child turns 13,  said child should be locked away and let out again once they turn 25.  When I was a teenager, I thought that this was the most vile thing that I had ever heard!  Of course, my bad behavior wasn't my fault, it was hers!  There was no possible way that she could understand the things that I was going through, how could she possibly understand? She was OLD!

Today, now that I am a mother of teens myself, I frequently call my mom and apologize in general for everything that I ever did during my teen years.  I also ask her to remove the curse she placed on me.  You know the one:  When you grow up and have children of your own, I hope you have one just like you!  Funny thing about mother's...their curses usually work, and boy are they powerful!  And while she does sympathize with me, she has yet to lift that horrid curse!

Now, I know that this blog is about chronic pain, but if you have teenagers, you know that the two are related. I love my sons more than life itself, but there are times when I think that if I were to actually kill them, I would get off on either justifiable homicide or be found not guilty due to reasons of insanity!  (For those of you who are concerned, I would never actually kill my kids.....but I would fantasize about it!).

I don't know about your teenager, but I do know that mine apparently suffer from multiple personality disorder.  The child that I send to school in the morning isn't always the same child that comes home in the afternoon.  At times, my sweet, loving boys walk through the front door, and at other times, it is some demon child!  Sometimes, they are in a good mood and want to talk with me and tell me about their day.  Other times, the demon child walks through the door, throws books to the ground, retreating to their room with a resounding slam of the door!  If nothing else everyday is an adventure!

I was raised with just my sister, and had no real experience with boys.  Everyone has told me that boys are easier than girls, and I believe this is true to a point.  I always thought that girls were the only ones who were really effected by puberty, but this just isn't true!  Boys can be just as moody, and their temper seems to surge right about the time the testosterone starts to surge.  Two of mine have this nasty tendency to punch walls when the get angry.  The oldest one has had to have surgery to repair a fractured hand, and the youngest has had to have his hand xrayed for fear that he has broken something.  Do they ever learn that the only one this behavior hurts is themselves?  Apparently not, because they are both still hitting walls.

I do have hopes that this condition is temporary.  Every once in a while, I get a glimpse of my child, the sweet, loving little boy who used to crawl in my lap for a good cuddle.  And I am very blessed that all three of my boys feel safe talking to me.  They pretty much tell me everything, even when I would rather not know.  I believe so long as they keep talking to me, they are going to come through this evil world of teenager-hood.

My mother tells me that this doesn't last forever and to hang in there.  But I honestly believe that I have about ten years before I totally finish with this.  I remember about the time I turned 25, I realized that my mother knew far more than I could ever hope to know, despite my excellent education.  That really came as quite a shock at the time.  But, every once in a while, I actually hear one of my darling boys say something so sweet to me.  What is it that they say?  "You were right, mom.  I should have listened to you!".