One of the things I say, only in partial-jest, to my teens when they are plotting and scheming or just talking about getting together with their friends is: “I just don’t want to read about this on the front page of the newspaper!” It is my way of reminding them that I still care about what they are up to and that there are very real consequences to every choice and decision they might make.
Teenagers are not exactly known for making the best personal choices and having the sanest ideas about what makes for fun and reasonable activities. Unfortunately, there comes a point when a mom just cannot follow them everywhere and nudge them when they start to make a mistake. Believe me, if there was a way I could do that, I would have figured it out by now! I am not so idealistic as to not know that they days when my kids consciously thought “Mom wouldn’t want me to do this” are long gone.
We live in a small enough city that ordinary news does make the paper and there are often tales that we either know the participants, or at least know the location and other details. I hope that my children realize that they are not invisible but I know full well that teenagers have a way of thinking that rules and reality just doesn’t apply to them. Whether my not-so-subtle reminders actually do any good, I don’t know. What I do know is that I have yet to read about any of their escapades on the front page of the paper—nor have I appeared there yet as the “bad mother” (another cautionary statement I make: “I don’t want to end up in the paper as the bad mother of the week!”). Knock on wood!
Also: Do They Always Have to Contradict?
I Say One Thing, But They Hear Another