Help!! I have teenagers and I dont know what to do with them!!

I love my kids!!  All of them!  But why oh why don't they do things the way I try to show them as the easiest or best way I know how to do them?  Case in point; kid #3 is about to finish 8th grade and move on to high school (which is hard for me to swallow because kid #3 is my oldest biological child), so the big DANCE is tomorrow night.  We have the dress, the shoes, the nails are to be done, the hair will be done, the makeup will be done, and the ticket is bought.  But the ticket is missing!  And you cannot buy them at the door, only in advance.  The frantic search begins along with the attitude and the huffing and puffing that comes with the unwanted parental involvement.  Needless to say, after 45 minutes of searching, a phone call to her father to look at his house, and then the revelation of this little pocket that she puts important stuff into, it is found!

Now how many times have I told her, as well as all the kids, put important stuff in a safe place that you will be able to find it easily.  I suggested for her to tack it on her memo board hanging in her room.  Did she do that.......NOOOOO....that would be too easy to listen to mom.  We all know that Mom is ignorant when you are a teenager.  She is learning the hard way that mom is not so dumb and that Mom makes sense after living thru the ordeals that said teenager tries fighting about.  Its not just her though,  the other kids have done that too.  I have been told quite a few times "you were right.  I should have listened to you".  Or "you called it perfectly".  Duhhhhhh!  (how is that for an old school throw back phrase!)

This is what I think.  After dealing with three teenagers so far (and still another child to get to the teen years with), I can say that I do not have the patience to be an organizational coach or consultant.  When people do not listen to me, ESPECIALLY when I am asked for help, I get very irritated and my customer service training would go by the wayside at that point.  So I think we can cross that career choice off my list. 

I am BACK!!!!

Life is finally back to normal for me.  The first half of this year has been very busy and hectic to say the least.  AND I had to do it all without my life partner for a chunk of time.  But the children were all taken care of, and all the animals are still here (though I did try to get rid of one, but to no avail), and I didn't lose my mind.  Now it is time to focus on summer activities.  Kid#1 is off in college for a summer course (and with a part time job too, FINALLY..lol) so check.  Kid#2 is trying to get a part time job for the summer, check.  Kid#3 is volunteering one day a week and getting involved in extra curricular activities at the school, check.  Kid#4 is not set up with anything yet.  She is all about sports so it will just be a matter of finding the right thing to get her signed up for.

I have plenty to chat about but, I will pace myself with how much I toss out here so as to not overdo it on one posting.  Maybe in the process I will learn how to do more on this thing other than just type.  This blogging thing is so new to me, but I sure do enjoy it.  I lay in bed and ideas just come to me.  I have started jotting ideas down so I can elaborate on them at a later time.  Once all the kiddos go back to school in August, then I should really be able to turn it on.  So bear with me while I learn the ropes of this thing called blogging.  Happy trails for now my friends!