One Smart Mouth Teenager Situation Handled – One Million More To Go

So, just recently, one of my sons who is nearly 14 years old was smarting off to his mother.  Of course, I was called in as damage control officer…

 

“Hey bud, … ah … why is your mom in the other room all upset and crying?”

“She treats me like a kid, dad, always ordering me around and telling me what to do.”

“Oh.  Is that all … ?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Well …, she was saying that you had said some pretty hurtful things to her.  She told me some of them and they did sound kind of mean … she does a lot of stuff for you, you know?  Maybe you should go apologize.”

“Dad, I’m nearly grown up now and I don’t need someone trying to run my life all of the time.”

“Well, I can understand that, but you really need to handle it a bit better.  She’s your mom, she loves you a lot and wants to help you make good decisions.  Show her a little more respect and appreciation.  Now come on, go apologize to her.”

“See …, now you’re telling me what to do … I’m a man now and I want to make my own decisions.”

“Well … sometimes men have to apologize son.  Trust me on this, go apologize, you’ll feel better and it will work a thousand ways in your favor in your future relationship with you mother.  OK?”

At this point my son decided to dig in his heels, “I’m a man now dad, and I’m going to make my own decision.”

So, the time had come for further clarification, “Oh…OK.  So you want me to treat you like another man and not my son?”

“Yeah.”

“Because…, I’m thinking … well,”  And this is where I laid on my best raised eyebrow/consideration look – and, I am damn good at this – and changed my voice to an ever so slightly more serious tone and said, “frankly, I wouldn’t appreciate it very much if some other man were speaking to my wife the way you just did.”

My son looked a bit concerned at this point.  He was beginning to see weakness in his argument.

I drove the point home a bit further, “as a matter of fact,” I continued looking thoughtful, “I think that it might really piss me off …”

The boy was obviously frightened now, so it was time to present him with his options.

“So, are you sure you want to go this route?  Or, would you like to go apologize to your mother – right now – and everyone can go away happy?  Either way is alright with me.  Now. How do you want to handle it?  I purposely began to look a bit irritated at this point and summarized it again for him, “just tell me right now, what do you want to do?”

“I think I should go tell mom I’m sorry.”

“Smart choice.”  I nodded my head in approval and let the look of consternation slip away, “smaaart choice.”