I have a child who has hit puberty with a vengeance. Gone are the sweet, cuddly moments. Gone are the snuggles at bedtime. Gone are the earnest chats about life, problems, etc. In their place, I have a snarling, disrespectful creature that barely resembles the child I birthed.
I'm a talker - from the word "Go". My response to problems is: 1. Talk them out; 2. If that fails, punch out the perpetrator (I still have Irish blood in me). Neither of these solutions work with this child. However, since #2 is definitely out of the question, I have given added attention to my #1 way of dealing with problems.
In an effort recently to help this child understand the emotions he/she is having towards me right now, I explained that puberty causes all children to think their parents are idiots. They will one day wake up, often in their 20's (we all pray it happens much earlier, though), and realize that their parents suddenly got really, really smart. They understand things. When could this possibly have happened? I wanted this child to understand that thinking his/her father and I are stupid is a normal part of puberty, but it's also not the truth and that feeling will go away one day.
This morning, this child smiled at me (boy, is that ever rare) and told me he/she has decided I'm not the dumbest person in the world. Surprised, but cautious, I asked,
"Oh? So is your father the dumbest person in the world?"
"No!" this child said, emphatically. "Daddy's brilliant. And I figure, with him being so smart and all, he wouldn't have chosen a dumb person to marry. So, you MUST be reasonably smart."
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