crap, am i a grownup now?
I think it's officially happened.
Kiwi's younger brother is sixteen, and going through that really awful portion of adolescence where you become willing to do anything to break your parents' hold on you, even if it's something incredibly bad for you like smoking when you're a serious asthmatic, or attempting to become legally emancipated when you don't have the self-discipline to get yourself out of bed in the morning.
Last night as we were discussing the problems he's been going through, I found myself, well, surprisingly unsympathetic. It sounds like his problem, or part of it, at least, is something my own brother went through -- this refusal to accept the rules, to the extent that he keeps trying to act like they don't apply to him, like there won't be consequences for his bad behavior. The sheer stubbornness of it just boggles the mind eventually.
Yes, it's a stupid system. Yes, the rules are often pointless. But that doesn't matter, in practical terms -- this isn't like fighting for social justice, where eventually enough people will band together with you and agree that it's not right and something needs to change. There will be no rallying cry or catchy slogan for your right to sleep until noon on a weekday, or to use your parents' phone line to call phone sex hotlines.
I did not at any point actually say that he needs to get a job and a haircut, and pull his pants up, but it felt like a near miss. *cough*
In other news, I meet Kiwi's dad today. Wish me luck.
Kiwi's younger brother is sixteen, and going through that really awful portion of adolescence where you become willing to do anything to break your parents' hold on you, even if it's something incredibly bad for you like smoking when you're a serious asthmatic, or attempting to become legally emancipated when you don't have the self-discipline to get yourself out of bed in the morning.
Last night as we were discussing the problems he's been going through, I found myself, well, surprisingly unsympathetic. It sounds like his problem, or part of it, at least, is something my own brother went through -- this refusal to accept the rules, to the extent that he keeps trying to act like they don't apply to him, like there won't be consequences for his bad behavior. The sheer stubbornness of it just boggles the mind eventually.
Yes, it's a stupid system. Yes, the rules are often pointless. But that doesn't matter, in practical terms -- this isn't like fighting for social justice, where eventually enough people will band together with you and agree that it's not right and something needs to change. There will be no rallying cry or catchy slogan for your right to sleep until noon on a weekday, or to use your parents' phone line to call phone sex hotlines.
I did not at any point actually say that he needs to get a job and a haircut, and pull his pants up, but it felt like a near miss. *cough*
In other news, I meet Kiwi's dad today. Wish me luck.