Teenagers: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

I have the most wonderful teenagers, they are so GOOD. For the most part, I like them as people. In general they are thoughtful and considerate. They work hard in school and do well. They are interesting and delightful. 

We have had a rough few weeks in Teenagerland though. 

#4-PFred (16) has had selective hearing and memory issues. The straw that broke our back was when he was out with his friend Peter. We asked what he was doing & he said "hanging out with Peter" and we asked when he'd be home "not too late". So at 10:30 pm we start wondering what "not too late" means this time.  Finally at nearly midnight we call his cell phone. First, he is no longer with Peter. Second, he's at a city park which closes at 11pm and it is after curfew (which I cannot recall if it is either 11 or 12) and he's with a 15 yr old girl ... just the two of them walked there, no car, dark dark DARK out. So we go pick him up & Anthony yells at them  and we take the girl home & apologize to her parents and they're like "oh don't worry about it" (our daughter would have been in so much trouble).  Also, when we were at the park there were some creepy looking people hanging out. I mean I hate to judge by appearances but they were scary looking to me.   

#2-Ltwin (18) has bought herself a car & is enjoying the freedom of going & doing. That's fine. She is an adult and I remember how great that was. However, Saturday night she went out and (knowing she had to be up at 4am on Sunday) she stayed out past 1am. Guess what two parents were waiting up? We called at 10:30 to remind her she had to get up early. Then we called at midnight & she said she was on her way home.  She wasn't over an hour away from home.   

#3-Htwin (18) went to a family reunion with her boyfriend Friday night. We had given his parents our OK for her to drink (as in alcohol) as long as she was not driving and someone else who wasn't drinking was driving. She drank way too much, came home stinking drunk after midnight ... throwing up. She basically forgot everything we'd ever told her about binge drinking. So she was sick for over 24 hours. I think she has learned her lesson. Oh, and she didn't drive. So that part she got right.  

So there you have it, some bad & some ugly!

#4 got grounded. #2 got off way too easy. But I hope she got the message. #3 has learned from her mistake, realizing three shots of Seagrams in rapid succession is not the same as three glasses of wine over the course of five hours. Plus there was the general disapproval of her boyfriend which probably had a greater effect than the disapproval of the aprents.