So it's 11:11 and I can tell I'm giddier than a rattlesnake with a toothache.
I spent the working hours of tonight coaching a group of parents trying to find the magic button that will turn their teens into proper, respectful, God-fearing American citizens. It ain't happening, people, is what I want to tell them. I am probably older than every one of them so why am I having to say over and over again: don't you remember what it was like? don't you remember how you felt? Some of them do remember and they're the ones whose kids will probably end up okay--after some period of drugs, alcohol and illicit sex (don't you remember what it was like?). The kids I fear for are those whose parents refuse to remember, who have come to me to Fix The Kid--or else. I have little patience for these parents, which is not such a good thing affecting as it does my empathy, which is, as we all know, the bottom line of any good shrink. But then, I'm still just a shrink-intern, so maybe my patience will gather moss as I gather hours.
See, you can tell by the utter what-the-fuck-is-she-talking-about of that last sentence that I'm giddy.
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I think some people are in denial. I remember far too well and will be locking my children up accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI remember too but still, I'm hoping, they will be different. I'm hoping they will respect their mother and be open and law abiding and never steal from the drug store. Somehow, I think that their possible delinquency has something to do with me and therein lies the rub. It's so very hard for a parent to realize that some things happen despite them rather than because of them.
ReplyDelete...and on that note, I have news: Not Roger's!
ReplyDeletewhit: but you have boys! aren't you supposed to furnish them with their first buxom beauty? or is that no longer the thing to do?
ReplyDeletecce: exactly. I'd wager that ultimately most things happen despite parents rather than because of them. You can only do so much...
toadyjoe: yahoo!