But truthfully, they aren't nearly as bad as I was as a teenager. When I grew up, we thought nothing of drinking and driving along country roads that rose and fell like roller coasters making our stomachs drop. We emptied cans and bottles and flung them out the window like grenades in front of farmhouses.
When I talk with Tracey, my best friend from high school, we admit that we are lucky to be alive.
Today's teens seem much wiser. They talk about designated drivers. They talk about ways to avoid fist fights and whether peer pressure can convince them to do things they shouldn't.
Perhaps, more surprising to me is the despair I feel when I learn that one of my boys has broken a rule. Not because they did something that most teenagers are doing, but because I must now discipline them. And I'm realistic about the fact that whatever consequences they face will probably not dissuade them from this typical teenage behavior.
As we reprimanded Spencer on Saturday, he apologized.
"I'm sorry you found out."
And truthfully, that's what he meant. He wasn't sorry for the behavior but sorry that he upset us.
So, as a parent, I must ask myself, am I telling the boys they need to stop their typical teen behavior or am I only saying they need to be better at hiding it from me?
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