TheBanyanTree: The dark art of raising a teenager

[Julie Anna Teague]

Quoting Anita Coia <anita at redpepper.net.au>:

> Teenagers - punishment for the sins of our own youth.  J

Ha!  I probably deserve worse then. ;)  On the bright side, and I 
should've added this earlier, when he wants to be, my youngest kid is 
hilariously funny and articulate, charming and loving.  He gives the 
best hugs, especially considering they are rare as hens teeth.  And 
when he comes out with one of his one-liner funnies, he completely 
cracks me up.  I can't help but like the kid, even when he can be 
annoying as all hell.

The really crazy thing is, life sometimes rewards those who don't 
resist gravity, who take the easiest path, who, on the outside, seem to 
be the most unmotivated people.  For instance, my older son, Andy, has 
worked hard at everything he's done since he was young. Right now he is 
a full time college student, has a part time landscape maintanance job, 
and plays in a band.  This weekend his car broke down, so he spent the 
weekend worrying about his finances and bumming rides.  The younger 
son, Seth?  Who just skims along doing very little?  He spent the 
weekend first at Elaine Irwin Mellancamp's (the super model ex-wife of 
singer John Mellancamp) house being wined and dined at a late 
Thanksgiving dinner and driven around to some local holiday events.  
Then went the next day with his friend (John and Elaine's son) to John 
Mellancamp's house, where he hung out with Meg Ryan (THAT Meg Ryan, who 
is John's new squeeze).  I asked him if Meg Ryan had fixed him a 
sandwich and he said, "They have people who do that."  Oy.  My older 
son just looked at him slack jawed and said, "How is this fair?"  
Shrug?  Who knows.  Maybe if you are like Seth, and just expect all 
good things to flow to you with little or no effort of your own, they 
actually do!  Life is funny.

Julie