14 year olds.......part 2.
Part 2......with my love for 14 year old boys.......
Somewhere between Friday night and Saturday morning, around 4am......I woke up because my dog, Lexi, charged the door barking viciously......I heard a surprise squeak and yelp from some nervous boys.....then a door closed downstairs and then.....silence. I smiled to myself. My guard dog, Lexi, the German Shepherd knows EVERYTHING That happens here from the moment I go to sleep, to the moment I get out of bed.
8am Saturday morning I realized that all of my sleep-over boys were long gone......quietly departed early in the day. Isaac got up later and I asked him, "did you guys sneak out at 3am?" He cleared his throat, squeaked a bit and said "yeah".
They snuck out. Of MY house.....at 3am.....not because they needed anything. Claire had offered to drive them at 10:30pm.....but just to see if they could do it. They did it. half biked, half ran......more than 2 miles....to Walmart at 3am. THEY DIDN'T EVEN BUY ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, people, we get to peek into the mind of a 14 year old boy. Take a moment. Look again. Nope. Still nothing? I know.
I wasn't mad. I wasn't. Truth is, I did it too, at their age. We snuck out one night and just ran around town just for the freedom and recklessness of it....and then bumped a gutter dashing back in at sunrise and got caught. My mom made me clean all day that day to show that even if you make dumb choices, you don't get to sleep it off and not deal. I told Isaac that I was disappointed, worried that he was a follower of dumb ideas....that they could have been hurt or picked up by the police.......and then when Roger got home from the basketball tournament I told him. He was madder.
We love being the home that kids want to be in. We decided we cannot be the home that is lax and permissive and allows for mischief to happen unaddressed. We gave Isaac a punishment that is working out well for me. He is responsible for all the dishes in the house every day for a week.....so that he may learn to respect our home......We also told the other parents so that they can talk with their boys.
Please hear this.
I'm still not mad. 14 year old boys who make a plot to sneak out on a Friday night in the spring is so, so, so developmentally appropriate. They are doing what they need to do. They are testing the boundaries, expressing their new-found ability to function independently (albeit as very stupid children)......and that loving parents will not tolerate sneaky behavior. Isaac texted the boy who did not sleep over, but whose parents came to get him after the movie and said something like, "you were lucky you left".
No one got hurt. No one got in serious trouble......parenting means busting 14 year old boys for sneaking out at night. Niki Kredit means blogging it up....and sharing shame as well as their spot-on normalcy and typical stage of life. They are all welcome back here again whenever their parents say they may try again......and my "therapeutic" dog, Lexi, is proving to have a few more redeeming qualities than I initially expected.
Somewhere between Friday night and Saturday morning, around 4am......I woke up because my dog, Lexi, charged the door barking viciously......I heard a surprise squeak and yelp from some nervous boys.....then a door closed downstairs and then.....silence. I smiled to myself. My guard dog, Lexi, the German Shepherd knows EVERYTHING That happens here from the moment I go to sleep, to the moment I get out of bed.
8am Saturday morning I realized that all of my sleep-over boys were long gone......quietly departed early in the day. Isaac got up later and I asked him, "did you guys sneak out at 3am?" He cleared his throat, squeaked a bit and said "yeah".
They snuck out. Of MY house.....at 3am.....not because they needed anything. Claire had offered to drive them at 10:30pm.....but just to see if they could do it. They did it. half biked, half ran......more than 2 miles....to Walmart at 3am. THEY DIDN'T EVEN BUY ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, people, we get to peek into the mind of a 14 year old boy. Take a moment. Look again. Nope. Still nothing? I know.
I wasn't mad. I wasn't. Truth is, I did it too, at their age. We snuck out one night and just ran around town just for the freedom and recklessness of it....and then bumped a gutter dashing back in at sunrise and got caught. My mom made me clean all day that day to show that even if you make dumb choices, you don't get to sleep it off and not deal. I told Isaac that I was disappointed, worried that he was a follower of dumb ideas....that they could have been hurt or picked up by the police.......and then when Roger got home from the basketball tournament I told him. He was madder.
We love being the home that kids want to be in. We decided we cannot be the home that is lax and permissive and allows for mischief to happen unaddressed. We gave Isaac a punishment that is working out well for me. He is responsible for all the dishes in the house every day for a week.....so that he may learn to respect our home......We also told the other parents so that they can talk with their boys.
Please hear this.
I'm still not mad. 14 year old boys who make a plot to sneak out on a Friday night in the spring is so, so, so developmentally appropriate. They are doing what they need to do. They are testing the boundaries, expressing their new-found ability to function independently (albeit as very stupid children)......and that loving parents will not tolerate sneaky behavior. Isaac texted the boy who did not sleep over, but whose parents came to get him after the movie and said something like, "you were lucky you left".
No one got hurt. No one got in serious trouble......parenting means busting 14 year old boys for sneaking out at night. Niki Kredit means blogging it up....and sharing shame as well as their spot-on normalcy and typical stage of life. They are all welcome back here again whenever their parents say they may try again......and my "therapeutic" dog, Lexi, is proving to have a few more redeeming qualities than I initially expected.
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