I know that little children say the cutest things and, as parents, we often wish that we’d written them all down. But, as many of you know, I am the parent of teenagers and teenagers have their own take on the English language. While they might not be saying “cute” things any more–they do say things that catch me off guard and I hope that I’ll remember. This morning, when I asked one of my daughters to run an errand for me, her answer was: “I’ll do it later. Right now I have to relax a little bit.”
Okay, now we’re talking about a person who has no job, is not going to school, and is pretty much just lounging about, eating, hanging out with friends, and reorganizing her closet and shelves. It is, as far as I can tell, a life of total relaxation. Her toughest decisions are whether to watch a dvd or play a computer game; whether to talk on the phone or chat with her friends online; or whether to take a shower or a bath. Really! Relax? You’ve got to be kidding me! Not to mention the fact that she has only been out of bed for about an hour and it is already late morning.
Sure enough, after expressing her need for just a little more leisure, she stretched out on the couch in her sweats to pet the cats and chat. Great for the cats, great for her, but I’m still waiting to get that errand run and the chores done. Don’t get me wrong, teenagers are great, and it is actually mornings like this that I know that I’ll remember. The day will come when I’ll be able to remind her just how tough her life was at sixteen and how much she needed the breaks where she could let her hair down and “relax a little bit.”
Also: How Many Times Have I Been “Done!”?
What Can We Call Them Besides Chores?
Letting Them Really “Be” Teenagers