Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Ode to the Teenagers

It's so fortunate that I have teenagers in my life.

Without them I would not have a very elaborate tone that rings on my mobile every time I get a new text. This was put on by my eldest daughter who realised that ancient mother needed more serious alert to said texts, because she kept having the audacity to call her instead of texting.

It's also extremely fortunate that teenagers really don't have any concept of the value of money. It would have been so boring for instance if eldest daughter hadn't compained about my not sending texts, because then we would not have had the - slightly heated- discussion about the fact that I prefer to use a phone as a phone, because calls are included in my contract, and texts are not. Thankfully I had two actual and one almost teenager to put me in my place about that one.

And thank goodness they have such excellent taste in music, making their parents choices so utterly absurd. Without them we would never be introduced to the fantastic music of the next generation.

And without my teenagers I would not know when my fashion taste has gone awry, that school bags, shoes, ties and any other paraphernalia associated with those aged between 12 and16 should of course live on the floor. Also it makes me see that on rare occasions it can be quite fun to act the part of slave in some sort of noisy out of control modern day drama.

But mostly the best thing about having teenagers is that you can actually see what your own parents had to suffer, and you can appreciate that your younger children are just children. So when the younger ones jump up and down on the playroom floor when you are trying to write a blog (as they did earlier) and turn off all the lights in the house by tripping them... twice... you can take it in your stride, know that it is completely your fault because huge house with huge mortgage for huge family (oh that will prompt another round of mortgage related ads onto my blog site...) has needed rewiring since about 1850, and as there is no more available funding left to do such rewiring just yet, that really it might be a sensible idea to move the playroom to a different part of the house and ask Blogger to put some sort of saving mechanism onto the "create posts" page. (Now I know that those of you who are more experienced Blogging types will tell me that what I want to do is to change to a different blog provider. But being a mere adult, and not a teenager, and not very new to this game I think I'll just stick here for a while - but if anyone from Blogger is reading, it would be lovely if there were a save facility without having to save to draft and then re open the post............)

Meanwhile, have just got a bizarre test from eldest daughter: "Wat? That pot can't em everything? What?" Took a few moments to work it out and then I realised that it is a copy of a text I sent her, without looking to see if I was taking any notice of the predicative text, and that she is asking ME for a translation. May just let her stew for a while. Nice to have the upper hand for once on text speak, even if it is accidental. Oh yes, and if you can work out what it was that I was trying to say to her, let me know!

7 comments:

Norma said...

Sally, I love this. Brings back the memories but without the technology! My former teens are now 38 and 39, and miraculously returned to being the delightful children I raised somewhere around 22 or 23. Since they aren't too far from your age, . . .

sallywrites said...

Thanks Norma! That's good. Eldest is 16, so I can expect the turning point to start in about 6 years time. Of course by that time number 4 and 5 will be 12 and 14 and number 2 and 3 will be 18 and 20, so I fear it will get worse before it gets better. But hopefully I will get better at managing them too!!! It's a good laugh though!
Sally

Beccy said...

I reading and learning, I only have one teenager and find your posts very interesting.

As you are aware I'm having a few teenage situations but on the whole my teenager is very kind and thoughtful. Yes Tuesday is forgotten (until the next time) and he has been clearing the dishes from the dinner table and wiping it clean every day without being asked.

I was a dreadful teenager honest! So I hope my children take after their easy going father with a more laid back attitude to life.

Altered Memories said...

My mother endured 7 teenagers and has managed to retain her sense-of-humor. Of course, what I call a "sense of humor" she calls "insanity". I dunno how that coulda happened. *shrug*

Great post, Sally.

sallywrites said...

Beccy: You are obviously doing something very right! Well done you!!

Tanda: I take my hat off to your Mum! I thought that I was going some with 5 children. Although I have to say that I could have gone on and had more babies, had it not been for he fact that we were a: ancient for parenting newborns and b: broke. Inspite of everything I say in my blog at times, I do actually love having 5 children!

Sally

Anonymous said...

aw don't worry mum, we can't ALL be perfect, and you are learning...!

don't worry babe, i do no it's hard for oldies like you

love you xxx

P.S. Beccy-on the whole, sally's teenagers are kind and thoughtful too (especially the eldest ;-) )

P.P.S. MUM! you KNOW that i can't get voicemail!:P

Beccy said...

Hey emilina jsut wait until your your Mum's age then you won't think it's old!

I'm sure your incredibly kind and thoughful, with your mother's genes!