Teenagers, Can I Give Them Away?
Updated: Apr 7, 2019
Rose’s Teenagers Drive her Crazy
Rose is a character of a chicklit novel.
I love my children, I do. I swear I do.
It’s just, well. Who are these people who live in my house? One minute they are my sweet amazing well behaved children, the next they became these things. These hormone driven crazy Teenagers who can drive a sane woman, well, crazy. I’m on my way to the looney bin I tell you.
Take my oldest, Alexis. I endured 26 hours of labour getting her into this world, that on top of a difficult pregnancy where I thought for sure my stomach was just going to come out my mouth I was retching so much. Ever have the stomach flu? Well this was that for months on end. I thought for sure I was going to die, so did the doctors. I ended up in the hospital with tubes feeding me the nutrients she needed to grow.
She has been a struggle every day since she was conceived.
The day she turned 13 she became an absolute nightmare. It’s been world war 3 in our house as she tries to get away with everything from wearing too much make-up and too little clothes to staying out after curfew getting drunk and high. I swear if I’d known how hard headed she was going to be I would have left her at the hospital, or maybe just named her donkey.
Next came Isabella and she is my dream child. Easy pregnancy, well by then they’d invented these pills for morning sickness and I was popping them like gummy candies. They are a God send. I gained so much weight I thought I was going to burst. The labour was a struggle at first and then the monitors started going off. I thought for sure she was dying, I was scared. Well, she was in distress, so I was wheeled into the O.R. for a c-section. Seriously, you should consider booking one of these the day you find out your pregnant. Much easier way to get that baby out of you and into the world.
Isabella was a model child, until 14, when she met a boy and not just any boy. She had to fall for Johnny an 18 year old rebel with long multi coloured hair, a tattoo and facial piercings. At one point I counted 7. Can you imagine having someone punch 7 holes into your face? Not to mention what that kid did to his ear lobes.
Well, I thought Gus was gonna shoot him the minute he saw the boy. We don’t own a gun, but Gus was ready to go buy one. From that moment on she’s been a struggle with outrageous requests, which Gus and I put a stop to. No way is my daughter walking around with a nose ring, or any part of her face pierced, her body tattooed or her hair any colour but the rich brown God intended. For mercy’s sake. Give that girl one inch and she’ll be headed to hell.
Jessica was my third girl. She was always a quiet serious little girl. Such an easy child. She never gave me any trouble as a toddler or preschooler. She brings home the best marks from school of all my children. She’s perfect really. Quiet, studious, smart, and keeps to herself. Always reading or doing homework in her room I rarely ever see her.
When she became a teenager not much changed. Well, her moods became a little darker at times and she seems to mope more than I’d like, still she is doing just fine.
Then came Aiden. Finally a boy.
My pregnancy was so easy, barely any morning sickness and I had so much energy. Labour was a breeze and he was here, finally. I love my girls, however I wanted to give Gus a boy so badly. Right from the minute that boy could move he was into everything. I was forever running after him. It was exhausting. Busy, busy, busy that boy. He’s grown into a talented athlete, a natural Gus says. At 13 he’s already on the school Football team. There isn’t any sport he couldn’t excel at.
He just turned 13 and I am beginning to see the Teenager signs already. He stopped hugging me, I was quite upset the first time it happened, but he’s becoming a man you know and a mother has to expect these things. He hangs out with friends after school somewhere, but I am not sure exactly. I find it quite frustrating at times. I need to know where he is at all times I tell him, of course he doesn’t listen. Such a boy my Aiden.
I enjoyed my children’s toddler years, preschool years, elementary years. They were always so sweet, so loving, and we’d have so much fun together. Now, oh my. God give me strength to make it through a day without wanting to strangle one of them, especially Alexis and Isabella.
Being a mother is wonderful, I’m just wondering is there a place I can send them for their teen years where I could visit on occasion and then when they are normal again they can come home?
Just asking.
Shannon Peel is the author of THIRTEEN a book about a boy and his mom caught behind enemy lines when soldiers attack their North American hometown. The story asks the question, what if it happened here?