Tonight I listened to part 327 of why other parents "don't care" about who their kids hang out with, who their kids talk to on the phone, where there kids are, or what they are doing.
And I simply responded, "It's our job to care. And if your friends parents really truly do not care, then maybe you are hanging out with the wrong kind of people. But what I think is that your friends' parents probably do care about those things."
For some of my kids it takes a very long time to tell them no. The arguing ensues and then it gets very emotionally exhausting to continue to reinforce the same thing. I remember times when I would joke with Bart, "Uh oh. You have to tell Kyle no. See you in 2 hours."
The girls are the same way. They have more ways to discuss the same issue. Tonight it was Sadie. Got talking to a kid I had told her she should stay away from. But it wasn't that act that got her in trouble, it was the way that she sneaked the call and the fact that I caught them conspiring about how to keep the secret from me that they were talking.
So she doesn't have phone privileges. And it took her 1/2 hour to quit arguing about that. And I started to realize why if there are, indeed, parents out there who "don't care" it is because they are so tired of the arguments that they just give up the fight.
Ain't gonna happen here though. But boy am I tired of rehashing the same things over and over again. As of Tuesday, we are the proud parents of 8 teenagers. Really not brilliant planning on our part, but we're surviving!
1 comment:
This reminds me of a phrase I learned a long time ago. "It takes two to argue."
I haven't had teenagers yet, but my 8 year old can argue the hind leg off a mule. I calmly repeat exactly what I said once or twice and then quit taking part in the conversation.
Angela :-)
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