The More Things Change...

Have you ever heard the saying, "The more things change the more they stay the same."? I've always thought it to be an odd statement and never have given it much though. Until, that is, I found myself with teenagers living under my roof.

It is humorous to me that my teen kids think that I don't really understand what it is like to be a teenager. Well, they are wrong. I remember. The problem for them is, I remember too well, as does their father. Growing, changing, learning, seeking, needing, wanting, dreaming, struggling, and, worst of all, hormones. Eew! (Is that even a word?)

Sure many things have changed since I was a teen. I didn't have social networking, I had a bicycle. I didn't have email, I had a mailbox where stamped letters would carry my correspondence to its recipient within a day or two. I didn't have a cell phone, I had a rotary phone that was stuck to the wall. Multi-tasking had yet to be discovered by anyone under, say, 20.

So much has changed. However, the important and vital things, the human nuts and bolts of being a teenager have remained the same. Pimples are still rampant. Boys still have growth spurts two weeks after mother bought them three new pairs of jeans. Girls still fuss over their hair. And, yes, hormones still make these once pleasant, compliant children into super-sized kids who almost become like strangers some days.

I don't understand? Really, I do. When my children tell me they are the only ones without iPhones in the school, I realize it is highly unlikely. I also remember feeling like I was the only one who wasn't allowed to take the MTC bus to Minneapolis on a Saturday. When they say that everyone is going with a date and why can't they? I remember that my dad forbade me to date one month and then granted my wishes the next, two days after the boy I liked found another girl. Funny I survived such devastating humiliations.

That's the beauty of memories. They help remind me that my kids will also survive. No need to cave in. No need to worry that I'm simply creating future conseling sessions for them by handing down rules that other kids don't have. They will survive. For the record, that's another thing that hasn't changed about us humans. The will to survive. I survived my parents' rules and regulations. I'm relatively sure my kids will survive, too.

ENCOURAGEMENT: Do the right thing no matter how hard those kids try and convince you otherwise. Someone has simply got to be the grown up!