Raising teenagers -- it's all about the math

Raising Teenagers

It's all about the math

So, as is normal in the lovely Pacific Northwest, it rained on Friday.  Rain in Oregon is nothing like rain in the midwest, or even on the East Coast. Here, the rain is more like walking through a foggy cloud.  It's a wet misty drizzle.  Or, as we like to call it, a mizzle.

And even though Autumn has finally settled in (if you don't count today's beautiful, sunny 75 ˚ day), and starting tomorrow the rains are coming to stay until, oh, say, mid May, the children are in complete denial.  On Friday, the rain rain rain came down down down, so I sent them both to school with their raincoats.  They were prepared.  I was a good mom.  I was.  Really.

And yet, when we picked up our daughter at the end of the school day, her raincoat was no where in sight.  Standing in the drizzle, her hair growing bigger by the moment, she looked less like the dazzling, well-put together fabulous young woman we dropped off, and more like a half-drenched, pathetic dog.

Thank you to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdvin/372908560/in/photostream/

When we asked why she wasn't wearing her coat? Her answer all came down to math.  "Mom, I think you underestimate how lazy teenagers are."  Yes.  I guess we did.

As she dripped dry in the back of the car, we got in the car line to pick up our son.  Not long after, he came trotting out to the car, hand over his head, raincoat tucked under his arm, trying to avoid the raindrops.

As he dripped all over the back seat, buckling himself in, we asked him why he wasn't wearing his coat.  His answer also came down to math.  "Mom, I think you grossly overestimate my common sense."

Yes, raising teenagers all comes down to the math.

* * * * *