They are just simply: different
This was written pre-covid. It’s different now. There are more challenges than ever. But the essence of this story might ring true for some parents, in a past life, or maybe in a future one.
So it’s like this. You are parenting a teenager. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones. Your teen is compliant, loving (towards you and others), attends school and is successful, has at least one extra-curricular activity and is not smoking (anything), drinking (and yes I mean alcohol) or doing any other drugs that they shouldn’t be (and that includes drinking cough medicine when they don’t actually have a cough which is apparently a thing).
So let’s just say that’s not the kid you are living with. Your teen seems to prefer the company of their friends and would rather hang out at a fast food restaurant sitting with these same friends while they all use their cell phones and snapchat about anything (including taking photos of half their head, or maybe their leg). This in spite of the fact that you have offered to buy pizza and provide pop so they can hang out at your house. You offer to leave them alone, not even stick your head in the room they are in but still, they prefer to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.
Sometimes you have a conversation with this teen person, sometimes they exchange a grunt when they go by and you…
