I love having a teenager

As Katie's 13th birthday approached, I heard so many warnings about how challenging it is to raise a teenager that I (jokingly) suggested browsing some pamphlets for boarding schools. "She will start to rebel," some people said... "She might be a good kid now, but just wait until the teen years strike," others remarked... My personal favorite? "Enjoy every minute you spend with her before she wants nothing to do with you anymore."

Ok, am I the only one that's seriously annoyed by all the stereotypes that teenagers deal with? They existed when I was her age, and they're still around now, and I don't think they're a good thing. At all. How can we honestly expect any teenagers to behave, when we're watching them all like hawks? Is there a good reason that we constantly worry about them turning into a bunch of Incredible Hulk-like creatures, with a dozen piercings & gauges, at the blink of an eye?

I personally feel that a bee is a good analogy for a teenager. Today's parents are so afraid of getting stung by them that they frantically hop around, screaming in terror, and therefore rile their little wasp up so much that it ends up stinging them out of sheer annoyance of such fearful behavior. I've personally noticed that some of the parents that worry the most about misbehavior end up having the most trouble with their teens.

I do admit that, so far, I've probably rolled my eyes at my stepdaughter more than she has at me (yet another stereotype for youth). I did it the time we planned a family miniature golf tournament that she suddenly decided was "lame," slowly dragging her flip flops around the turf and intentionally trying to set a new world record for how many putts it takes to get the ball over the little fake bridge. I do it every time she refuses to take a family picture, just because she has a zit (the photo below is a rare exception these days). I do it every time I lecture her about cleaning her room, only to glance in my rearview mirror and see that she's wearing headphones. I also do it when I catch her texting beneath the dinner table.

Despite her bright red hair color and multitude of band T-shirts from Hot Topic, my teenaged daughter is no rebel. She constantly surprises me with her thoughtfulness-- doing all of the laundry in our household without being asked, spending hours bathing and trimming our miniature schnauzer so that we don't have to pay a groomer, and giving advice to friends that makes my heart burst with pride (which I only learn of when I'm snooping through her Facebook chat streams, of course). Her grades are excellent, and she works so hard at soccer and flute. I know it's still early, but so far, I like thirteen.

I know that there are some parents that do struggle with challenging teenagers, and work really hard to help them, and my heart goes out to them. I just wish that the world would realize that not all teenagers are troublesome.