The Teens and I

Today on my computer, I found this as my screen saver on a pseudo post-it note:

To Do list

*Fix John's watch

*Have A great Day

*Write 

*Read 

*Eat,live and do alllll the other important stuff

You finished reading the naggy list I made for you. I hope you enjoyed it.

-love your naggy son John  *__*<------you after="" p="" reading="" this="">

                  \

                    [How does he nag THIS much]

Just in case I needed help figuring out what to do today.  

Other children have less direct ways of communicating, but they are as effective.

This morning the clothes I'd washed and put in the dryer were back in the washer.  I wondered why. Having opened said dryer, the answer became clear.

One teen wanted dry clothing and thought the easiest way to get it, would involve removing all of the wash from the dryer, and puting only said teen's clothes in the machine.

I'm guessing this child in particular didn't think the rest of us would mind wet clothing.

I did ask, "Wasn't it a lot of effort to take all the clean wet clothes out of the washer; put them in a laundry basket, and dump all the damp clothes from the dryer back in the washer before putting ONLY the teen's clothes in the dryer?"

The teen answered, "Yes."  

I asked if it might be less work to have let the first wash finish drying, and simply switch out the clothes when the cycle ended.

"Perhaps," the teen responded.

Letting the world know this sequence of events and revealing teen reasoning might not be something I ought to disclose.  Humanity can only bear so much truth at any given moment, and nature has deemed it wise to only allow for the onset of adolescent mood swings, eating you out of house and home, driving lessons, dates, text messages and explaining how the books aren't like the movies even if the movies came out recently and star famous people, after we as parents have demonstrated sufficient love and commitment to these gradually maturing human beings.

Writing about teenagers and tweens and children skating the edges of adolescence, I'm spending a lot of time discerning what is their intent, and what does their action/speech really say.  

Is Puzzlement!

These days, getting time to write comes at a premium. The going price for writing a new piece is sleep.  Editing comes at the expense of dishes, and posting, well, that cuts into life when everyone else is up and about.   I'm not complaining.  I'm explaining why you might be complaining about the sporadic nature of this blog.  I'll be over here, trying to convince a teen to do the dishes from the extra supper cooked, and get another one to take a practice S.A.T.   Getting to know teens day by day, I'll just state for the record, and I mean this with a full heart:  Potty training was easier.