Picking your battles
Picking your battles with a teenager. New territory for me. My almost 14 year old is lovely. I find him genuinely nice, fun and easy to hang out with. But he's been growing his hair for a year. It is driving me crazy. And the more I (and his sisters) get irritated by it, the more determined he is to keep growing it.
Appearances don't matter, I keep telling myself. And I know this is a nothing issue. But other people seem to have nicely presented children. What fights do other people feel are worth fighting over with their teenagers? Do people fight over hair length? Or are they too busy worrying about real problems?!
PS I think it looks better in the picture than in real life!
Comments
Being able to touch base with the parents whose house you are dropping them off at (soooo embarrassing) and actually being able to come to the door to pick them up and not just SMS from the street.
Not letting them go to other people's houses unless a parent is there except in circumstances when all facts have been made clear
Finding out basic info - where are you going, who are you going with, what are you going to do etc.
Not closing your bedroom door if you are using the computer.
not having friends of the opposite sex in non-public areas of the house.
Wearing a hat and sunblock (sunblock I usually win, hats are definitely not cool - but suffering Billy McMahon's fate when you are 50 isn't either)
probably other stuff.
Years ago, we went to church with a family whose older teenage daughter had bright blue hair for quite a while. Her Mum always used to say that hair length/colour weren't worth getting too upset about (at the time, this girl wasn't a Christian so I suspect that might have been their main concern...)
My question to self is 'does this affect the child's mental or physical health ?' If the answer is no, then I let it go.