By 
teenage daughter……..
“I hate you!
I wish I was dead!
There is nothing to eat in this house!”
Sounds familiar? That is the common language of the average teenage daughter.
teenage sound……….
No emotion, no communication, no answer to a question.
For example, “José, where are you going?”
“Umm, I don’t know.”
“So how do you know which way to turn when you walk out the door?”
“Oh…Tommy’s house.”
Gold…
“My sister is a puny brat.”
“I can’t stand her!”
Why do they act this way?
Don’t worry about that. It is the nature of the beast.
There is a quote attributed to Plato, the Greek Philosopher…..”What happens to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with crazy ideas. His morale is slipping. He hasn’t changed much, has he?
One day I was driving my seventeen-year-old daughter to high school. She was older. “Dad, I’m seventeen. I should be able to stay out all I want!”
I gave him the answer that you would. She didn’t like that. Five minutes later she said:
“I don’t have enough clothes.”
“Well,” I said, “I go to the mall and I see signs everywhere, Help Wanted. Why don’t you get a job there on the weekends so you can buy the things you think you need?”
She indignantly replied, “Do you want me to work? I’m only seventeen!”
There is. They are neither fish nor birds. That is why they are on the phone or on their computers all the time. It is a perfect compromise. Comfortably in the nest and outside with your friends at the same time.
Teenagers will drive you crazy because they are selfish, narcissistic, immature, and inconsiderate.
But do not worry. The cream rises to the top. If you give them love and example and pray enough, they and you will survive.
I would say to that daughter, described above, “Margaret, your room looks like a dump. Please clean it up.” She would go in one ear and out the other. Years later she had her own apartment. We would visit her and she would be impeccable. I sat on her couch one day and she admonished me, “Dad, you’re squashing the pillow.” There was a small pillow behind me. This was the same girl I would beg not to jump on my couch like that. That it was not a springboard.
So the little devil turned into an angel that I am proud of today with his own teenagers to deal with.
However, these are dangerous and difficult times. It’s getting more and more challenging. Teenagers are subject to temptations and dangers that I have never experienced. When I was a teenager life was so simple compared to now. Movies, television, computers, music all send morally unhealthy and tempting messages. My role model was John Wayne, there’s Madonna, and countless celebrities, sports figures, and actors who give permission for drug abuse, promiscuity, immodesty, alcoholism, adultery, and divorce.
As a parent, you need to be vigilant and constantly involved. Parents tell me, “I would never violate my child’s privacy.” I say, “Nonsense!” It’s a war you’re in. Check their computers. Read their journals. Listen to your phone conversations. Look under the bed, follow them, watch them… they have no rights. If they are wrong, you have to take the consequences. So you have every reason to be on their backs at all times. Trust me, they won’t like it. But there will come a time when they will thank you.
Maybe I am generalizing too much. I’m sure there are plenty of kids out there who stay out of trouble and act civil and responsible. I say God bless you. If you can say that about your children, it hurts you too. Count your blessings.
But for all the other poor souls. Take the head. Fight the hard battle, stay the course, pray hard, and one day you will be rewarded with an adult you can be proud of.
Youth is a wonderful time. Too bad it’s wasted on the young.