Many, many of my friends have kids. Almost none of them have teenagers. Many, many of my friends have Facebooks. Again, none of them actively live with teenagers.
Last week was a sad week in our family. Last Sunday we learned my cousin Linda took a turn for the worse. Monday, we got the call that she lost her long and torturous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was barely 50. Her passing was a blessing as it was an end to her suffering. We had been expecting the call all summer. Knowing this doesn't really make it any easier. All weekend our conversations were filled with worry about the 16 year old daughter she left behind; the callousness of her ex-husband on her deathbed; the joy she brought to others' lives; the many accomplishments she achieved through her work; and the peacefulness of being surrounded by family in these sad circumstances.
Everyone knows I whine incessantly about teaching. The peanuts for pay. The 24-hour days. The indentured servitude. But the kids, I gotta say, I love 'em. I really, really do. Who they are and what they do, it RAISES YOU UP, it restores your faith in humanity, and makes everything seem more important. They make things matter! Just consider my student Liza Stoner, who's willing to ride her bike 1500 miles to Washington D.C. to raise awareness of electric cars! She left yesterday, and I'm on pins and needles every day for her updates from the road.
"Young people with excessive use of cell phones (both talking and text messaging) have increased restlessness with more careless lifestyles, more consumption of stimulating beverages, difficulty in falling asleep and disrupted sleep, and more susceptibility to stress and fatigue," concludes a new study of a tiny number of Swedish teens. Yes, teen life is a technicolor hystero-drama, and it looks like the kids do suffer from having access to it 24/7 via their cellphones. I bet unlimited access to social networking websites has the same effect. I know a lot of oldies in their '30s who are texting in the middle of the night, too, but we are sinners and don't deserve any better! Would it benefit teens to have some rest from connection with their friends?
In just the last week my little angel, known as "Boy 1" to protect the guilty, has been suspended from school, told his math teacher that her class is pointless and boring...it is, but that's another story...and was caught dancing on the roof of our house while blasting his iTunes play list to the neighborhood.
Will you give them the down and dirty on YOUR high school days? While recounting stories of innocent high school pranks with my high school daughter, she took the opportunity to look me straight in the eye and ask "Did you party when you were my age?" I froze. Truth be told, I was a good girl with good grades, a relentless soccer player, and yes, an underage beer drinker. Thinking back now, there were moments I'm not proud of, but I came out of it relatively unscathed. And yet, I'm not one of those parents who thinks it's ok to buy the kids beer as long as they stay in the basement. My goal has always been to help my daughter become a strong, independant thinker who can make tough choices for herself, and I think honesty goes a long way toward that. I put her off with a "Let's talk about that later" and haven't brought it up again. In this case, is honesty the best poicy?
