Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Yesterday stunk, hope today is better!

Yesterday ended up being a terrible day. I stayed positive all day, I don't even mind that I made only one sale.

I woke up with a fever and feeling just terrible. I've had a cold with sore throat and upset stomach for over two weeks now. Yesterday was the worst. I still had to go out to the fair, so I took some tylenol and my fever broke before I had to go.

That isn't even the worst of it. My 16 year old son ran away yesterday evening because we are "trying to control" him by making him get a job! It seems he IS too much like me and has to learn about life the hard way. Why can't teenagers just realize that we parents know what we're talking about....I've been there before for crying out loud! I so thought I could make it on my own at 16, only I had a baby to support too! I was worried at the beginning, but he called my youngest son and told him he was at a friends house. So, at least I know he's not wandering the streets, which is a little scary to me living here in Albuquerque. Hopefully, he will show up at school today. My husband teaches at the high school that he goes to, so we will know right away if he skips school. I've always known that he would be the difficult teenager, he is the middle child after all. He has always been the most difficult of the three boys. I am getting close to the end of my rope with him! I guess I'll just tie a knot and hang on tight! Luckily we went through a similar situation with my oldest son, so I know he will eventually come around and apologize for being such a pain. But at the moment, I just don't know what to do! Anyway, keep some positive thoughts going for me!

2 comments:

Cynthia said...

Oh Paula, my heart goes out to you! I am already anticipating the teenage rebellious years with my own daughter.

I hope to hear that he went to school the next day!

Getting a job in high school...I had to do it, my husband did too...it's what we did so that we had money to buy the things we wanted to and to go to the movies etc. Let's face it, my allowance didn't go far. Hopefully, he'll see the wisdom behind this and look for a job that will suit him.

He'll realize that he's not the only kid who is working.

Paula Manning-Lewis said...

Cynthia,
Thanks so much. He did end up going to school and came home in the afternoon. We had a talk with him and he decided to make the right choice. Funny thing is, one of his friends at school told my husband that she wished she could get a job, but her dad won't let her!
Personally, I worked by choice from the time I was 11! I started out babysitting, moved on to cleaning other people's houses and finally got my first "real" job at McDonalds when I was 15. I've always had an entrepenurial(sp?) spirit!

I believe having a job in high school is an important part of growing up, teaching responsibility not to mention the extra money thing. We also go a step further and make the boys save 25% of everything they earn so when they turn 18 and get ready to go out on their own, they will have a nest egg to start out with. My oldest son used to complain about saving money, but when he got that $700 at 18, he sure was happy!