Dodging Raging Hormones
Last night, Jake and Zachary were at Walter and Allan's house. Went to see the Celtics. Nice night for them, topped off, I'm sure, by peanut butter straight out of the jar and chocolate chips.
Ben boy stayed home with us. He had a friend over, they watched some slasher film in the back room while Jeanine and I were in the living room with a fire. She was doing homework, I was playing scrabble online. Overall, a pretty quiet night.
Right?
Nope.
A little after ten, I was done with scrabble and turned on the TV. Ben's friend had gone home and he came in and watched with us. Jeanine told him at 11pm, it was almost time to shut off his phone for the night, and go to bed. 11:30pm, comes, the show is over, and it's time.
Ben lost his mind.
I felt like I was watching a toddler explode. Yelling stuff like, I hate you! and You are so mean! and my favorite, GO AWAY! over and over again. Oh, sure, there were a few more sophisticated ones, but for the most part, it stayed right at that 4 year old level.
Why did I have children again? Can someone remind me? Because I'm pretty sure I could be on some beach somewhere, with my lovely wife, listening to the waves instead of dodging raging hormones.
I looked at Jeanine and said, you know, we have two more that will be like this.
Eventually, after a half hour of stomping, screaming, door slamming, everyone was in bed. Jeanine and I have learned how to laugh about this instead of cry. Or get mad.
The other night, about a week ago, I woke up to Jeanine saying, Not a chance, Ben. Get back in bed. He started to mumble... Jeanine said to me, He's pretending to sleep walk.
I burst out laughing. Not since you were 3, buddy! I called out.
See, he was trying to go downstairs and get his phone. He thought we were asleep. We were but Jeanine heard him. Mind you, she never heard the babies crying when they were little, but the squeak of the stairs en route to the telephone... she's all over it.
She got up, grabbed the phone and put it under her pillow.
Find that, she snickered as she got back into bed.
Maybe I am too strict, maybe it's unrealistic to think a kid who is 14 doesn't need to be up all night tap tap tapping text messages all night. Sometimes, I really just want to give up and say, fine. Do what you want.
I know I can't. But man oh man, is it tempting.
Today is one of those days where I'll have the option to do all the work around the house myself, or have the kids help. It's so much easier to do it myself.
I know. Not the point. The point is to teach them responsibility, working in a community, and the very basics of how to keep a house clean. I anticipate getting yelled at more than once today.
Wish me luck dodging hormones.
Ben boy stayed home with us. He had a friend over, they watched some slasher film in the back room while Jeanine and I were in the living room with a fire. She was doing homework, I was playing scrabble online. Overall, a pretty quiet night.
Right?
Nope.
A little after ten, I was done with scrabble and turned on the TV. Ben's friend had gone home and he came in and watched with us. Jeanine told him at 11pm, it was almost time to shut off his phone for the night, and go to bed. 11:30pm, comes, the show is over, and it's time.
Ben lost his mind.
I felt like I was watching a toddler explode. Yelling stuff like, I hate you! and You are so mean! and my favorite, GO AWAY! over and over again. Oh, sure, there were a few more sophisticated ones, but for the most part, it stayed right at that 4 year old level.
Why did I have children again? Can someone remind me? Because I'm pretty sure I could be on some beach somewhere, with my lovely wife, listening to the waves instead of dodging raging hormones.
I looked at Jeanine and said, you know, we have two more that will be like this.
Eventually, after a half hour of stomping, screaming, door slamming, everyone was in bed. Jeanine and I have learned how to laugh about this instead of cry. Or get mad.
The other night, about a week ago, I woke up to Jeanine saying, Not a chance, Ben. Get back in bed. He started to mumble... Jeanine said to me, He's pretending to sleep walk.
I burst out laughing. Not since you were 3, buddy! I called out.
See, he was trying to go downstairs and get his phone. He thought we were asleep. We were but Jeanine heard him. Mind you, she never heard the babies crying when they were little, but the squeak of the stairs en route to the telephone... she's all over it.
She got up, grabbed the phone and put it under her pillow.
Find that, she snickered as she got back into bed.
Maybe I am too strict, maybe it's unrealistic to think a kid who is 14 doesn't need to be up all night tap tap tapping text messages all night. Sometimes, I really just want to give up and say, fine. Do what you want.
I know I can't. But man oh man, is it tempting.
Today is one of those days where I'll have the option to do all the work around the house myself, or have the kids help. It's so much easier to do it myself.
I know. Not the point. The point is to teach them responsibility, working in a community, and the very basics of how to keep a house clean. I anticipate getting yelled at more than once today.
Wish me luck dodging hormones.
posted by Sara at 9:31 AM
6 Comments:
You have my deepest sympathy.
I truly believe that we have reached the point where technology has become one with our society, and I am 99% certain that we have passed the point of no return in our relationship with technology.
I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside... I just hope that as memory gets less expensive, the possibility of copying our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's one of the things I really wish I could encounter in my lifetime.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://cryst4lxbands.blog.com/2010/01/31/will-the-r4-or-r4i-work/]R4[/url] DS qqPost)
i'm not so sure the other two will be as challenging, but then again, who knows!
great seeing you this afternoon, even if it was just for a short time. have fun at the super bowl party, and GO SAINTS!
Another reason I'm glad Lupa doesn't have opposal thumbs.
they do come out of it.
and they will love you again on the other side.
:)
believe me they all won't be like ben at this stage they all are different thank goodness. I have an idea we can lock ben and megan in the same room and see who comes out alive grrrrrr. and they do come out of it eventually and pick up other annoying ones lol. love ya hang in there
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