I write a fair amount about the trials and challenges of parenting teens, and I’ve been caught lamenting the lost joys of little ones here on this very site. But I want to be fair and encouraging to those of you looking forward to teenagers, there are some absolutely wonderful and cool things about living in a house full of teenagers…
While I may have to step over some shoes and ill-placed book bags once in a while, I no longer have the constant ocean of toys and little plastic pieces to maneuver or pick up. My living room stays pretty neat (especially now that they all take their dishes to the kitchen and almost all of them will actually rinse and load them into the dishwasher) and everyone knows how to run the vacuum and take out the trash.
We also seem to past the “big battles over chores and housework” years. Now, we certainly have some discussions over other things (that’s another blog) but generally, if I ask someone to feed the cat, or start a load of laundry or unload the dishwasher—they do it without complaining. Maybe they don’t exactly jump up promptly, but it gets done and I don’t usually have to ask twice.
I get to meet really interesting people. As my kids bring their friends around, and I meet parents I’ve never met before, I’m enjoying the expanding world. Teenagers have opinions and plans and when you get a few of them together, they really like to talk. It’s fun listening to all their opinions and pontifications on politics and social issues and everyday life.
I don’t have to pay for day care. Yeah! No more day care or babysitters. Of course, the trade-off is that I don’t always know exactly what they’re up to, but that comes with the teenager territory anyway.
They write items on the grocery list. This is a very good and very big thing. While I remain the primary cook in my house, I’m no longer the only one. With three other full-size people constantly cooking and eating, I don’t have the same “handle” on what’s running low as I used to and they now jot things down as their favorites start to wane. It’s very cool.
Finally, we have some really amazing conversations. I loved the little kid chats and watching them expand and grow in terms of their ideas and understanding of the world when they were younger—but now they are really free-thinking, interested and interesting people. We don’t always agree. It’s really something to realize that your kids are nearly grown and they are formulating their own opinions and ideas in preparation for taking on the world—and many of those ideas are not the same as Mom’s. Wow. It is almost like talking with adults—okay, really immature adults or like people you remember from college—but almost adults. Wow.