I’d like to think that I’m a forward-thinking, open-minded parent. Compared to how strict my parents and Chris’s parents were, Angeline basically gets away with murder around here!
She’s had her own cell phone and laptop for years, has her own television in her room, and we’re pretty lenient with what we allow her to do. She spends the night at her friends house often, has a really active social life and until recently, even had a boyfriend that she was allowed to see once or twice a week.
There isn’t much that we say “no” to with Angeline because well, she’s a pretty good kid and doesn’t ask for outrageous things. She’s been asking for a third earring piercing for a few years now and we kept telling her that she had to wait until she was 16. She already had two holes pierced by the time she was 12, and I didn’t think it was necessary to have three at such a young age (she started asking at 13).
You’d think it was the end of the world!
Well, lately she’s forgotten all about getting that third earring, even though she’s 16 now and we’d let her get one if she asked.
Now it’s all about getting a tattoo.
Chris and I both have multiple tattoos. I love tattoos. I don’t mind if Angeline gets a tattoo – WHEN SHE IS OLDER.
One of her best friends got a tattoo last year and suddenly Angeline got the bright idea that she should be able to get one too. Not when she was 18, like she’s always planned…but when she was 15.
Our response wasn’t just “no,” it was “HELL NO.”
Her response?
“You never let me do anything fun!”
AHEM? This kid has done so many super fun things in the past six months that my head is still spinning from all of the fun!!
So…taking two of your best friends on a week-long cruise through the Caribbean, that wasn’t fun? Really?!
Ziplining through the forests of Puerto Rico, that wasn’t fun?
And when I took her to Europe for two weeks on a press trip with Carnival Cruise Lines? I guess that wasn’t any fun either. Even though she sure seemed like she was having fun eating chocolate croissants in Dubrovnik, and spending all of my money in the boutiques in Barcelona.
And that time I took her to Washington D.C. to check out the Ford Driving Skills for Life program, where she was taught driving lessons by former race car drivers?
Oh, I guess that wasn’t fun either…
Is it just me or are teenagers dumb?
Kids are so funny sometimes. It’s easy to forget that they see things differently when they are young. My NINE year old wants a tattoo – and I keep telling him “nine more years, kiddo”.
LOL, it just kids. They don’t realize how good they have it until they get older and out on their own.