There are many indicators that there may be a teen living in your home. For some it may simply be larger shoes that you need to step over in the doorway or perhaps your grocery bill has increased so much that you feel like you are feeding an entire army.
One mom told me she is reminded that a teen is living with her because whenever the fridge door is open, her son can be found drinking milk or orange juice directly from the carton. Another mom told me she's afraid to go into her daughter's bedroom because there are always clothes strewn across the floor, following a devastating morning of fashion fiasco.
One dad said he knows there are teens in his house because his power bill has gone through the roof. His teens stay up later than he does and he wakes every morning to a house with all the lights on. He finds this very frustrating.
There are so many wonderful indications that teenagers live in a home. Teenagers bring fun, laughter and occasionally dirty feet and bad attitudes, but we wouldn't change that for the world. It's all part of the journey of parenting.
The other night I was quickly reminded that I have a teenager living in our home. I was preparing to go out to a fundraising dinner for "Kids Cancer" and our younger kids were out playing with the neigbourhood children while my eldest daughter was out at a fundraising dinner for her youth group (seemed to be a night of fundraising for the whole family). We had been out all day and I hadn't left a lot of time for me to get ready so it was all action in our house as I put on my makeup, got dressed and prepared to do my hair. This is when I knew I had a teenager in the house!
I had decided to do my hair in a particular style that demanded an extreme amount of hairspray. I prepared my hair by curling, back combing and pinning it all in prep for the hairspray to create the final look. I carefully reached across my dressing table, holding my hair in place, and reached for my large can of hairspray. When I picked it up I knew something wasn't right ... I was OUT of hairspray. Yes, my teenage daughter had decided to curl her poker straight hair for her event and ended up using all of my hairspray.
Panic set in as I had no idea what I was going to do. The car was there to pick us up, the friends we were going with were ready, my husband was calling me and there I stood with my fiercely back combed hair and no spray. In this moment a beautiful image of my teenage daughter flashed in front of my face, I looked in the mirror at myself and realized I was raising a teenager and times had indeed shifted.
As my husband continued to call me and get me out the door I suddenly remembered I had a small bottle of hairspray tucked in a handbag that I travel with. I rushed into my closet, found the bottle and began to spray.
The day was saved. I didn't have to change my look or reinvent my hairstyle, I simply made do with what I had. As I kissed my younger two goodbye for the night and raced out of the house I asked my son to put hairspray on our grocery list ....
Susan J Sohn
getreallive.com
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