14 Family Stories That Prove Teens Require More Attention Than Newborns

Many parents believe that the hardest part is raising infants and that things get easier as children grow older. This is partially true: as kids become more independent, parents often gain more time for themselves. However, new challenges arise, such as teenage rebellion. Parents must also come to terms with the fact that their child is no longer a little one, but an individual with their own sense of self.

• “I moved to a new town neighbor and his friends asked me to hang out. We went to a parking lot (Halloween night). Cops showed up because we were lighting fireworks at cars passing by. We ran (bad decision) and they cuffed me and put me in the back of the car. I asked the cop to buckle me in because I couldn’t do it. He looked at me with disbelief and then did it. He drove around looking for the others asking me questions. I told him my story and he let me go. He said don’t be an idiot and find different people to hang out with.” differentiatedpans / Reddit
• I always wanted to learn to do pull-ups but lacked motivation. Now I have a teenage daughter. It’s hard with her, but I love her very much and try to stay calm.
  So when my patience runs out and our dialog becomes non-constructive, I do pull-ups (we installed a doorway bar for this purpose) and drink a glass of water. Steam comes out, and I am ready for dialogue again. Gradually reducing the load of expanders, I’ve learned to pull up without them. © Overheard / Ideer
• My older sister limits her son’s computer time. Every evening, when he sits down at the computer, she controls the time and doesn’t allow him to sit longer than 11 p.m. Around 10:30, she starts reminding him that it’s time to go to bed.
  And once, my parents and sister were invited to someone’s anniversary party, and I stayed with my nephew. We had dinner, and after that, we both were busy with our own thing. Around 10:40 p.m. my nephew asked, “Why don’t you remind me it’s bedtime?” I said, “I’m not your mother, you’re 12, you’ll figure it out on your own.”
  And he replied, “Oh, yeah? You don’t care about me, and you don’t care about my eyesight (apparently, my sister was pestering him that he was going to ruin his eyesight), I’m still a teenager!” With those words, he made his bed and went to sleep. What was that? © Spiteful1990 / Pikabu

• I was in the subway and witnessed a conversation between a mother and her daughter, a teenage girl about 12–13 years old. Her mother said, “We need to buy you a phone for school because you drowned yours in the camp. What phone do you want?” The girl replied, “I want a Samsung like Paul’s.”
  Her mother objected, “Let’s buy you something more expensive, because at school all the girls have iPhones, and you’ll have this cheap phone.” And the girl replied, “Mom, why would I need an iPhone at school? Someone can steal it, or I’ll be constantly afraid that someone will steal it. Let’s better save this money for Grandma’s dental treatment.”
  I couldn’t hear them anymore. But it felt like I was in a parallel universe. © Trapezium / Pikabu
• “Years and years ago, my younger sister had these obnoxious knee-high boots. Like extremely obnoxious. I don’t know if it was the sound of them clunking around everywhere or the fact that she’d NEVER take them off and refused to wear any other shoes. Anywho, I got so sick of the brat she became when the boots were on, that one day I threw one of them in the trash. I had full intentions of retrieving it from the trash but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. My mother had taken out the trash... Weeks went by of my sister crying and throwing fits because she didn’t have her boot, along with mom freaking out because she couldn’t take one more second of my sister freaking out... It was pure chaos in my house. My mom spent months looking for the boot while I sat there in silence... I couldn’t tell her... and still haven’t... and never will...” floopin-fairy / Reddit
• “In my first year of high school, I made a new friend in class. One day he brought 6 little tins (model paint tins) covered in tape and there was a little wick on top of it. ’Here have these, my dad makes them.’ I took them home and in the middle of the night, I snuck down to a park and lit one. A single tiny tin shot sparks and glowing embers 30 feet into the air. It was incredible. I loved it!! I ran home and hid the other 5 in my wardrobe.
  A few weeks later Mum called me into my room as soon as I got home from school. She’s found the fireworks and she’s angry. She asks what they are and I tell her. I’m grounded for 2 weeks.
  A couple of days later my dad walks into my room and hands me $20. He said ’Tell your friend I want 6 more. Don’t tell your mother.’” Tyrael__ / Reddit

• “At age sixteen, I was incredibly interested in music production. Not only that, but I was getting fairly good at it. So, when my mother asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her that I’d like a mixer.
  Well, I got a mixer... but it was better suited to making pancakes than music.” RamsesThePigeon / Reddit
• Recently, our teenage son brought a girl home. Blue hair, nose piercing, and a tattoo of a spider behind her ear. My husband became immediately nervous, but I welcomed the young people, baked a cake for them, and gave them money for the movies and snacks.
  After they left, my husband began to criticize our son’s choice. And I took out our old school album and showed him my photos when I was their age. Green hair (I dyed it with brilliant green and shampoo), piercings in the nose, and 6 earrings in each ear. But I grew up, changed my hair color, and removed the piercing.
  Now I work as a pediatrician, don’t have bad habits. When we are young, we look for our place in this world, we rebel and make mistakes. I will never allow a person to be stigmatized just because they have blue hair, for example. © Full Story / VK

• “Sophomore year of high school I am on a 3-on-3 intramural basketball team with my two friends. We are scheduled for a game against four seniors (3+ a sub to rotate in and out) and one of my friends gets grounded because of grades. So we have to take on four seniors with just me and my freshman friend.
  The game was back and forth and by the end, we were wiped, but we were hanging close. Finally, we are at 22-21 (playing to ten by one but have to win by two) and have the ball. By this time we are in the last game and everyone else is in the bleachers watching. I drive, toss up a teardrop and it goes in.
  The crowd went nuts and stormed the floor. It was the closest I ever got to winning anything like a championship. It was awesome.” IndyDude11 / Reddit
• Yesterday, my son took me for a walk! He’s a big boy — almost 22, but he lives with us now. So, I came home late from work and wanted to go for a walk in the evening when it wasn’t that hot outside. My husband didn’t want to, my daughter went out with her classmates, and I didn’t want to go out alone.
  Then my son came home from work. I told him, let’s go for a walk. But it turned out he’d already agreed with his friends to meet later. I was upset and said half-jokingly, “Take me with you,” and he did.
  We walked around the neighborhood, then went to eat fast food, and then they rented electric scooters, and we rode all over the neighborhood — it was my first time. I was very happy! © #motherhoodhappiness / VK

• My daughter is almost 16. Recently, she came to me with tears and said that I don’t love her, because (attention!) I control her too little and don’t forbid her anything!
  It turns out that all her friends need to go straight home after school, and I let mine go for a walk and don’t bother her with calls as long as her homework and chores are done, and she comes back by 10 p.m. Her friends’ parents chose the extracurricular activities for their children themselves, and I let her play soccer because she wanted to. But her friend’s mom said that soccer is not for girls, music is more suitable.
  I also don’t check my daughter’s phone and don’t read her social media, but all other moms do, and they know all their kids’ passwords. In general, I’m a bad mother because I give her choices and don’t control her. That’s the way it is... © Asaly / Pikabu
• My niece is 14. She recently threw a tantrum, screaming that she had an unhappy childhood. Because she can’t go out after 8 p.m., she can’t post her photos in a bra (and her friends can), she can’t use her phone at night, she is forced to go to the pool once a week.
  After that, she promised that she would make her mother divorce her stepfather, and she’d go to live with her grandmother because there she didn’t control her and didn’t make her do homework. The girl is just very gullible.
  So, when her “friends” tell her that they can go out till 2 a.m., and in summer their parents let them go alone to another city, she believes them. And when you ask her — how they traveled, and where they stayed at the age of 14 — she shouts, “You don’t understand anything.” © evadoll / Pikabu

• “I learned guitar junior year of high school. Apparently, I’m a natural and learn quickly. One of my friends played guitar for 8 years and got lessons too, and I’m ‘better’ than him at guitar (I can play more advanced songs and learn them quickly).
  I’ll never forget sitting in my civics class with my guitar (the teacher loves guitar and lets me play in class) and I played Summer of 69. As I was doing the little riff during the chorus, all of the extremely attractive and popular girls went crazy asking me what song I was just playing. I was an insanely unpopular kid that nobody talked to. After I told them the name, they all smiled and were in a slight shock that I was playing that.
  About 2 minutes later, one of the hottest girls (and my crush at the time) walked up to me and complimented me on my guitar playing. She sat next to me and listened to me playing for a little while. I’ll never forget that day.
  Also, later on, the popular girls all got their entire homerooms to nominate me for the most musically inclined that year. While it would have been nice to win, I was extremely surprised that they wanted me to win that vote. It’s unbelievable that all of the crazy beautiful girls got a ton of people to vote for me.” WirelessTrees / Reddit
• My teenage daughter has learned to bake pancakes. She gets up early, makes the batter, then bakes them — all by herself! They’re delicious.
  She makes them with all kinds of fillings: berries, fruit, ham, cheese, herbs, potatoes, broccoli, chicken, cabbage, onions... In short, with whatever she can find in the fridge. Or she specifically asks in the evening to buy something in the supermarket.
  That’s all very nice, of course. But 6 extra pounds on my sides and stomach depress me. I don’t want to offend my daughter, and I don’t have the willpower to stop eating these pancakes. © Overheard / Ideer

But little kids can also make life unforgettable. Take a look at these stories.