Da-dum da dum da dum da dum dadumdadum.......Or however the Jaws theme goes.....
Just when I thought it was safe to be the parent of teenagers again.......
Anyway, when the jr and freshman came home from school today, we got into a debate of sorts over why they do not have to take semester finals next week. The excuse is that their attendance was great, so this is their reward, basically. So in other words this county is going to have teenagers at loose ends next week because they do not have to be in school for these tests. I think it is a crock. Anyone who knows me also knows that my kids go to school when they are supposed to. They have to be fevered or throwing up to avoid school. The junior, my 16 yr old stepdaughter, is just ever so thankful that she gets nearly a week off to pull herself back together again. I told her with a three day weekend at the start of the week and one at the end of the week, that should be plenty of time to recuperate. And since she and my son are not taking finals, they really don't have anything to rest up from. She then tells me that if she took these tests she would flunk for sure. Ummm....I thought the purpose of tests was to make sure you knew the stuff that had been taught during the term......I'll leave you to the obvious conclusion on that one......
Then when her dad walks in from work, he goes to the kitchen to fix himself a couple of sandwiches---he and I had already decided that it was fend for yourself night for dinner---and she goes in to corner him. I find out a little later--after getting him off to himself and asking what her latest deal is---that she was instructed by her mother (the custodial parent) to ask him if it was ok is she goes to Las Vegas with one of her friends, when and how long who knows. Of course Ron's first answer was NO. She says this girl and her folks are ok, her mom has met them a couple of times, she spends days at a time with this friend, so he should know she is ok. He looks at her and hands her the set-down. He does not know this girl or her family, so his answer is no. Then he asks why all of a sudden after years is his opinion suddenly sought after by her mom. She certainly hasn't asked for it before. She lets the girls watch what they want---at least it seems that way when we have forbidden certain shows and movies, and yet they have seen them----does not monitor their Net usage----as shown by the number of times we have had to jump in and give the "Myspace" lecture. She certainly did not ask his opinion when she decided to let the 16 yr old start dating at 14. Every time we lay down a rule or try to explain the rules, we are shot down. Ron even told the 16 yr old that he knows this is why neither girl comes over as often as they used to--because we have raised the bar on behavior. We have set rules on what is allowed and what isn't.
I told him that I had two opinions on the LV issue---either momma is wanting to say no but doesn't want to be the bad guy, or she hopes he will say yes, then anything that goes wrong can be laid at his feet. He concurs. He also told Kris that the answer was going to have to come from her mom, because since he didn;t know the people involved, he couldn;t logically give any answer but no.
I hope her mom says no too, but past history shows that if it is something we oppose, she's all for it. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Since she is custodial, end game is up to her. (Just like I have had to tell my ex on occasion).
No comments:
Post a Comment