You would think that after 2 older kids I'd be use to dealing with the dreaded teen brain syndrome.
You know what I mean, right?
Teens have so many hormones and things swirling around in their noggins that it makes listening, thinking and following directions very difficult, if not impossible.
I have told #2 Son at least 4 times now this week about a small chore I want him to do.
I left it up to him when to attempt this job and here it is Saturday morning and it's still undone.
On this point, we had a "go 'round" about the chore in question on Wednesday.
He came downstairs and I once again reminded him(reminder #2 or 3, I don't recall)about doing said chore and doing it on that day, since he seemed not to have any mojo to get it done asap on his own.
He looked at me like I was an alien(shut up....I see you thinking something about me out there!lol)and said that I hadn't EVER in my life said anything before today about doing this chore.
Really??!
Do I need to start filming video of me telling him so I can play it back when he denies I ever told him something or other?
He continued to deny I ever told him to do this chore.
I know the child is suffering from an advanced case of teen brain and I explained to him what I meant.
Again, he looked at me like I had hot lava oozing out of a vent in my neck.
He shook his head in a way that says, "Poor mom, she's lost her mind." and left the room.
A bit later, as if to punctuate the point I was making, #2 Son returned downstairs to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat.
He took the second little French bread pizza out of the freezer(from the box of Stouffer's I got him the other day)and got busy in there heating it up.
I didn't pay attention to him really and got absorbed into whatever I was doing online.
About half an hour later I looked up from the computer as my nose was smelling something burning.
I yelled up to him and he flew down the stairs to the kitchen and started banged around all disgusted.
I looked up and he had a pizza pan in his hand with this on it.....
That slightly incinerated item was a pizza at one time.
It actually looks better in the photo than it did in real life.....
Ever the optimist(ha!)and trying to save the situation, I told him that charcoal is good for your teeth.
I could have sworn I saw daggers protruding from his eyeballs toward me at that moment.
;-)
Teen stood there clueless about how this had happened.....the pizza burning.
He said he had followed the directions on the box.
So I dug the box outta the trash and started reading them.
And it became apparent that what he did was combine 2 sets of directions-one for cooking it with a microwave and one for cooking it in a traditional oven.
One instruction said to bake at 350 for 30 minutes in a regular oven.
The other instruction said to bake for 2 minutes in a microwave and then place in a preheated 475 degree regular oven for 5 mintues.
So what does the teen brain afflicted youth do?
He preheated the regular oven to 475 degrees and baked it for 30 minutes.
*Thud*
And there you have it folks.
The argument that I HAVE told him about that chore I wanted done multiple times and he just hasn't processed the information correctly in his teen brain.
The old mom doesn't have Alzheimer's yet......
It's him and NOT me.
And hopefully I get this kid grown and out of the house before I do sink into the Alzheimer soup.
Sluggy
You know what I mean, right?
Teens have so many hormones and things swirling around in their noggins that it makes listening, thinking and following directions very difficult, if not impossible.
I have told #2 Son at least 4 times now this week about a small chore I want him to do.
I left it up to him when to attempt this job and here it is Saturday morning and it's still undone.
On this point, we had a "go 'round" about the chore in question on Wednesday.
He came downstairs and I once again reminded him(reminder #2 or 3, I don't recall)about doing said chore and doing it on that day, since he seemed not to have any mojo to get it done asap on his own.
He looked at me like I was an alien(shut up....I see you thinking something about me out there!lol)and said that I hadn't EVER in my life said anything before today about doing this chore.
Really??!
Do I need to start filming video of me telling him so I can play it back when he denies I ever told him something or other?
He continued to deny I ever told him to do this chore.
I know the child is suffering from an advanced case of teen brain and I explained to him what I meant.
Again, he looked at me like I had hot lava oozing out of a vent in my neck.
He shook his head in a way that says, "Poor mom, she's lost her mind." and left the room.
A bit later, as if to punctuate the point I was making, #2 Son returned downstairs to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat.
He took the second little French bread pizza out of the freezer(from the box of Stouffer's I got him the other day)and got busy in there heating it up.
I didn't pay attention to him really and got absorbed into whatever I was doing online.
About half an hour later I looked up from the computer as my nose was smelling something burning.
I yelled up to him and he flew down the stairs to the kitchen and started banged around all disgusted.
I looked up and he had a pizza pan in his hand with this on it.....
That slightly incinerated item was a pizza at one time.
It actually looks better in the photo than it did in real life.....
Ever the optimist(ha!)and trying to save the situation, I told him that charcoal is good for your teeth.
I could have sworn I saw daggers protruding from his eyeballs toward me at that moment.
;-)
Teen stood there clueless about how this had happened.....the pizza burning.
He said he had followed the directions on the box.
So I dug the box outta the trash and started reading them.
And it became apparent that what he did was combine 2 sets of directions-one for cooking it with a microwave and one for cooking it in a traditional oven.
One instruction said to bake at 350 for 30 minutes in a regular oven.
The other instruction said to bake for 2 minutes in a microwave and then place in a preheated 475 degree regular oven for 5 mintues.
So what does the teen brain afflicted youth do?
He preheated the regular oven to 475 degrees and baked it for 30 minutes.
*Thud*
And there you have it folks.
The argument that I HAVE told him about that chore I wanted done multiple times and he just hasn't processed the information correctly in his teen brain.
The old mom doesn't have Alzheimer's yet......
It's him and NOT me.
And hopefully I get this kid grown and out of the house before I do sink into the Alzheimer soup.
Sluggy
That's so funny and tragic. Burned pizza is a true tragedy.
ReplyDeleteSounds just like my tribulations with two foster teens years ago. NO sense of "now", no sense of "I need to do this". No sense of "I can read" - that was the worst one. At least one of them knew enough to stay the hell out of the kitchen!
ReplyDeletePeace <3
Jay
Yum...burnt pizza. Ever since my sister let hot oil catch fire when we were younger, I am very paranoid of leaving stuff cooking. Though I do misread directions very often... confusing 8oz of OJ concentrate with 8oz of OJ diluted, 3 tbs. of baking powder vs 3 tsp of it... Yeah. I may very well suffer from tween brain myself.
ReplyDeleteTanner, you are not unusual...I left Sloppy Joe mix cooking while I went to get buns...NOT A GOOD OUTCOME! And I often have trouble making translations between UK (metric) measurement and US measurement. Not tween brain, just us old folks!
DeleteJay
There is Alzheimer information below the comments now. Big Brother has been reading your blog.
ReplyDeletehmmm someone in our house is not permitted to use the car because a chore she was given on Monday still isnt done. I think she is trying to outlast me but she keeps forgetting she is the THIRD KID not the FIRST. SOOOOO lets see if it gets done tomorrow since she really wants to go out with friends and she is the only one with an available car. BWAHAHAHAHAHA Its a plot they are all out to get us
ReplyDeleteMy oldest son is 7, and already completely oblivious, so I shudder to think of what my happen when he gets afflicted with "teen brain". That does not sound good! ;-)
ReplyDeleteOMG, my 13 year old daughter and I laughed until we had tears running down our faces at this. We think you may have my 17 year old son (and her older brother) living in your house!!
ReplyDelete