Mountain Monthly
Cloudcroft NM
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View From Life's Foxhole

By Pat Flood

     If you have or had children there is a very good possibility that they either have or will become teenagers. This piece may or may not be relevent to your current or past experience.
     Has anyone noticed that teenagers are oblivious to the fact that parents seem to get upset when they don’t pick-up after themselves. Making a sandwich is a good thing. We want them to eat. Leaving all the materials from making the sandwich on the counter is a bad thing.
     Or, that parents have different views on what is considered a collectable item. For example, soda cans and drinking glasses, definitely not something the Antique Road Show would air. Oh yes, they do collect but not in a way that can be appreciated.
     When they were small children we taught them the concept of time. What happened? When they are asked to do certain chores their timetable seems a bit skewed. They seem so surprised when asked why the trash hasn’t been taken care of several days after the overflow is driving you to madness. They ask incredulously, “You meant today?”
     There is of course, the all time favorite NAG of parents, their bedroom! It doesn’t seem to matter how many storage boxes or closet organizers you give them. All those items seem to do is add to the jumble and chaos. How do they fit all of that stuff in their room, and where does it come from?
     For the most part, teenagers aren’t bad. They just drive you nuts and fortunately, you can remember when they were sweet babies and they smelled good. Also, we as parents must remember that turn-about is fair play. They will become parents themselves and we will get to see the chain of events unfold when they have teenagers.


Pat is an assistant editor with the Mountain Monthly and can be reached via e-mail.