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The Frustrating, Humorous side of Parenting a Teen.

As a teenager, I recall mentally noting the phrases and behaviors I would never exhibit when I became a mother. I vowed to never say "because I said so, I'll take that car away until you're eighteen, when I was your age, and you don't know how easy you have it" just as I vowed to never resort to simplistic verbal threats on the child's social life. Nearly 20 years later, on those vows, I can honestly say, "I have become my mother." I finally understand what my mother must have been feeling all those years ago. My son, once a loving, cute little boy who used to put his head on my shoulder and beg me to read him a bedtime story is now the bi-product of some alien life form. I have tried to educate myself with the many articles that outline exactly what the teenager goes through physically and emotionally during their teenage years. Each article explains in detail how the parent should/should not react in certain situations and states that the best gift a parent can give is to be loving, kind, understanding and supportive of their teen.

For the information in these articles, I am certainly thankful, however, there is little discussion on what the parent goes through during this time with their teenager. While there is mention of conflict', there is little focus on what the parent must endure from the teen while trying to be understanding and supportive.

Due to the teen's hormone levels being in overdrive, they can be terribly moody. To that end, a parent can always count on a 360-degree turn of emotion from their teen usually within the context of one 20-minute conversation. It continues to amaze me that I have two college degrees and yet my 16-year-old son can reduce me to self-doubt and cynicism in just minutes by a simple eye roll and the great sigh of disgust. It also amazes me that somehow, since the onset of his puberty, that I have continually progressed to become one of the most uneducated people to walk the face of the earth. In his eyes it seems to me that my motherly skills have been reduced to the production of sustenance, laundry duty and the in home version of a 24 hour ATM. He is no longer quick to share the details of his life with me and withholds information asking only " Do you need to know everything, mother?" Depending on how much attitude he uses with the question, my response varies from "Yes, I do," to "I'm your mother and you will tell me what's going on in your life or I will call all your

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