One of our teenagers last night had a blow up. These sorts of situations are always full of combustion, meaning, depth. It’s where the way of nature collides with the way of grace. It’s when the layers of life seem to become more obvious if I choose to notice.
After tossing everything off of the counter and kicking the trashcan across the kitchen and into the cabinets she was desperate for something else to throw in anger. She punched the freezer a few times, the fridge a couple more. And then she noticed the big wooden magnet and took it off the freezer and chucked it onto the floor while screaming at the top of her lungs.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
There is one word on the wooden magnet:
Shalom.
When she first blew up she ripped up her school card which had her homework assignments listed on it. Later when I asked for her to come talk with me about some of her behaviors she said, “I ain’t gonna be no dummy. I have homework I need to do.” As she sat on her bed she dramatically started getting out her books and folders from her backpack.
“Shit. I don’t know my homework assignments because I tore up my card.”
I didn’t need to say a word for a lesson to be learned.
The Overlap 
It’s so hard, on all of us – the teen, the parent…sigh. Interesting lesson learned in your little story. All better now?
My 13yo is in major argumentative mode lately, and when I told him no to a request and he wanted to know why, I said ‘because you always argue with me about everything’. The look on his face told me that he doesn’t even realize how much he argues….lol
Challenging, the teen years. And we’re just starting… 🙂
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She woke up in a better mood, but still annoyed. I made sure she could follow some simple instructions and didn’t have her talk much. But she did agree to have a good day at school, and so we’ll see when she comes home. Fingers crossed!
Teenagers don’t see how often they argue, that’s for sure. “I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining!”
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Pppffffff….😉
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They do nothing BUT argue.
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