This morning as I was working away in the relative peace of my work space (the cats had finished their annoying and destructive morning romp and had settled down at last for naps) I head the blood-curdling scream from upstairs: “Mom!!!!” You would have thought a burglar had crept in through an upstairs window or someone’s hair had all fallen out in her sleep. Instead, what HAD happened was that an enterprising and increasingly independent teenager had done a load of laundry and run it all through the dryer–with a tube of mascara tucked away in a jeans pocket…
Now, who among us has NOT done a load of laundry with a tube of lipstick, a ball point pen, or some other dastardly item? For many of us, it only takes once for us to learn how to diligently check the pockets of everything that goes in the wash. I have to tell you that mascara can make quite a mess–all over the clothes and caking the inside of the dryer. Fortunately for my daughter, she had done one of those customary teenage tiny loads with only a few items in it (my complaints about those wasteful small loads is saved for another blog!) and other than her “favorite new pair of jeans” and a couple other items, the dryer drum seemed to get the worst of it.
Yes, I acknowledged, I knew that sick-to-the-stomach feeling that comes with discovering such a travesty. I didn’t lecture or “tsk tsk” since who am I to get all high and mighty? I’ve certainly done it myself! Instead, we had lessons in how to clean out the dryer, and what we might be able to do to remove some of the stains and attempt to salvage the clothes. More life lessons, more general life skills, more typical adventures in a house full of teens…
Also: What do I Say When People Ask Me About Teenagers?
Older Teens Really Don’t Come with Parenting Manuals