Someone is having a joke. It's my birthday today. Day off. Nevertheless I got up very early to see off hubbie and eldest teenager. Hubbie remembered. Teenager: late up, late in shower, grumpy about coursework (his not done), left his packed lunch, forgot to say happy birthday. :rolleyes:. Give me a dog anyday. AAAAAArrrggghhh.

Wishing you a very happy Birthday :)

Found a little quote for you ;)

"Adolescence is perhaps nature's way of preparing parents to welcome the empty nest."  ~Karen Savage and Patricia Adams, The Good Stepmother

One of my favourites is:

"Mothers of teenagers understand why some animals eat their young" :D

happy birthday ..... I think teenagers are half human and half alien anyway have a god day

Happy birthday!!! I completely understand you.... it's so funny though. Just 10 years ago I was a typical teenager and I always said that when I have kids, I'll understand them completely. I thought my parents were completely weird and that they have no idea what they were talking about.
Now, I completely understand what grown ups were talking about and can't believe that I'm turning into my parents as well. Same words, same ideas and same criticism toward teens!! :rolleyes:

As Mark Twain said:

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. 

I'm told they grow out of it, I just hope mine does soon, I know exactly how you feel.

BTW happy birthday

Steve

Yep. I know. How is it that I only feel OLD when I'm talking to teenagers? It's terrible! Sometimes you can hear yourself saying the very things that you hated hearing from your own parents!!!!

But thanks everyone for your kind greetings!

To make you feel even worse, we run a youth club for teenagers and the kids in the club are really great, a better bunch you'd be lucky to find, but talk to their parents and you wouldn't know it was the same kids :rolleyes:  They seem to save all the grief for their parents.

Still apparently they do grow out of it don't they? - please someone tell me they do :D

Happy birthday

Being a teen still myself (just) It can be vey hard to rember dates, not only do we have to remember birthdays, special days (mothers day, fathers day etc) but also coursework deadlines, exam dates....It's a hard life! :D LOL  Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it! :D

>Still apparently they do grow out of it don't they?

We're all still here so they must do ;)

I was a horrible teenager and put my parents through grief and so I look at my grief giver and wonder if I'm being punished

I commend anyone who works with teens because I really believe they get a pretty poor press and generally undeservedly so.  Many 'grown-ups' forget what it was like to be a teen and too many people take what the media says and generalises to the majority which just isn't fair

Once again Steve, big up you for working with the teens

>I commend anyone who works with teens because I really believe they get a pretty poor press and generally undeservedly so.

They do get a bad press and the good stuff they do never gets recognised.  Last night we went to my daughters schools production of Joseph, some of her friends and one of the youth group was in it, it was really good, there will have been around 50 11-14 year olds involved in it they will have spent a lot of their own time on rehearsals, making sets, props, clothes etc and all the money raised will go to Oxfam but it will not get a mention in the local press.  What will be in the press is the one or two teenagers who have stolen a car or been involved in a fight.

There are some teenagers who cause trouble and they can be a menace especially to older people or if there are a bunch of them they can seem to be menacing to anyone.  These are however the minority who unfortunately get all the publicity.

BTW one of the big problems being a youth leader is that you get stung for loads of sponsership :rolleyes:  The kids always seem to be involved in raising money for something :D  We are currently raising money for a new school in Africa, some of the kids are also raising money for a trip to Thailand  with their school part of the trip will be charity work with a local village.  So all donations gratefully received :D :D

So often adults, I think inadvertantly most of the time, have a way of disaffecting teenagers and cause some of the problems we end up with. 

A comment on my 15 year old son's report said that he should become more involved in extra curricular sports activities such as the school football team.  This is very interesting as I have a very well behaved (yes, really but yes could change) son who actually likes school. He is and always has been potty about football. He plays for a local youth team, trains with them, has a season ticket to town's (conference league) FC, follows them around the country to support them, plays with his friends on our local park and during the summer hires out astroturf pitches and organises tournaments with friends from different secondary schools.  Somehow the school has managed to disaffect my son in an area I would not have dreamed possible.  Obviously, not jumping into the school team is not the end of the world but to me it poses serious questions about the relationships that schools have with students and parents and the implications of disaffected teens already struggling with angst of being a teen.

These things seem to happen without us even knowing it's happened or understanding why.

"At fourteen you don't need sickness or death for tragedy."  ~Jessamyn West Like that one too :D

I can relate to that one totally.  I don't have too much trouble with my boy at home, and if there is a problem it blows over completetly but he can become very confontational with teachers as he fels they don't give him time and respect so he will give them grief back, if ti wasn;t for the very able connections worker I think it woudl soemtimes be all out war between him and them.  Yes ytou ahve guessed it he is very bright bu under achieving :(
.

Hope you have a good day for the remainder ;)  Remember teens grow up into sensitive, sensible creatures -eventually!

Happy birthday

Teri x

Happy Birthday :)

2 teens down, 2 to go Now that my first 2 'teens' are in their 20's its hard to believe the trouble they caused me as they are both now 'responsible' parents themselves :P And just as I see myself turn into my mother, I can see my daughter turning into me ;)

Hope you have a great day :)

Dee x

Happy Birthday :-)

Happy birthday.

If he doesnt remember by tonight give him a little payback at his birthday - pretend you have forgotten it untill later on in the day or night.

My mum did that to me when I was 14 and forgot her birthday, I never forgot it afterwards because I knew how terrible it felt.

"Hapy Birthday".  Sounds very familar, I think hormones invented teenagers. They say it's natures way of making us get P..... off with them
so we don't stand in there way when it's time for them to go, and spread their wings.

I had that same morning, needless to say he went in late and had Brom com (the compnay that rings up to see why they aren;t in if they don't get a registration mark) calling me :(

Ooh he's just got home. I've been given a very large bar of choc and a great card that made me laugh.
Looks like he'll live to see another day!!!
Oh no  Here he comes with those booklets on gap years in N Zealand. Wants to play rugby, party, drink, play rugby, surf, picnic , play rugby :rolleyes::rolleyes:

There is a fabulous book for teenagers actually, if anyone is interested. Am I allowed to give the title on here??? It's brill. Made me laugh a lot and cry a bit.

Well on with the birthday. Time for a cuppa and a LITTLE piece of chocolate before a gin at 6 and a bottle of sauvignon blanc ..each. Won't you all join me?
Just hope my bitch doesn't whelp tonight

>Oh no  Here he comes with those booklets on gap years in N Zealand.  Wants to play rugby, party, drink, play rugby, surf, picnic , play rugby

Let him go.  If you haven't already read somewhere else on this forum :D my 19 yr old daughter is in Aus.  She is the one that has made me grey and wrinkly and I have to say is still doing so when I hear of some of the things she has seen and done.  Nevertheless, spiders, sharks and rough bars are just a different type of danger to the type you get here.  She's been there 5 months and I can already tell that the experience is changing her and for the better   (apart from the accent that is :D)

>Well on with the birthday. Time for a cuppa and a LITTLE piece of chocolate before a gin at 6 and a bottle of sauvignon blanc ..each.  Won't you all join me?

*holds glass out, ready and waiting* :D

Dee

p.s. why poo after Katy?

>p.s. why poo after Katy?

because it would be rude to go before her :D

:D :D :D

Just comes naturally!

I had some mental image of you being a cross btween a Katy and a poodle...although Teri has given me a whole new mental image now :rolleyes: :D

Happy birthday anyway. I'd love a glass (bucket) of that Sauvignon Blanc :)

hello this is james kates son. i would like 2 throw a surprise party for my mum. i dont kno wot she will think! but all come round 2nite and we wil drink and get her stupidly drunk!!! haha!! by the way i would like to tell all you people who i dont know that my birthday is on 9th april - i shall await ur presents! aaanyway...bringing this 2 a close.i hvnt actuly asked dad either but hey...come round and bring som champaign,= -  you have my permission. cya later!! paaaaartay on!!!! oo and i hope i have done this correctly i dnt actuly kno wot im doing!

Whoo hoo, way to go James! :D  I'll bring some dips and crisps and I have some Champers, it's a bit warm but hey what the heck.  What music do you have? If it's jungle I am not coming round!!! :D

wheeeey!!! so partay on!! rite...we have a bit of...frank sinatra anyone?!?!?! haha! jokes.i have like never herd him-i happen 2 have a life...

Frank Sinatra - are you having a bubble?

What about R&B or some upbeat stuff like Kaiser Chiefs?

Happy Bday KP :D

We have a bit of random music going on with our multiplayer so we have just had REM and now have Kasabian on now :D

Teenagers are a nightmare :rolleyes:

I have a 13 yr old but with a bit of hard work over the last few months we have seen a marked improvement

Happy Birthday Hope it was a Joyful one :)

Teenagers (banghead) How I do hear you all the way over hear, yup seems like they are the same no matter where you live :rolleyes: lol got a 13 yr here that drives me 2 more yrs and I will have another one :( Life just can't get any better then this... I know yrs later I will wish I could turn back that clock just to have them real young again, well sometimes I wish they were still babies how do I miss that kinda sorta maybe not, hmm :D