Teenager in the House

People talk about the difficulties dealing with teenagers. What about having one in the house, whom I haven’t spent even a few hours talking to?

First I thought he would have seized the chance and made me the best English teacher he has ever had. What a dream! When that didn’t happen, I exercised some fear mongering tactics about how his life would be miserable as he has a sensitive soul if he doesn’t use it to his advantage. No sign of drastic motivation surge. I hoped he could at least manage to get himself out of bed in time for lunch. When that failed too, I started to act as his human alarm clock by banging on the door. The main problem seems to be his cell phone that he uses to read novel late into the early morning. Without it, he said he couldn’t function. So I threatened to unplug the oxygen by taking the cell phone away. In the meantime, I believe I have developed the best system to get him on track to pick up his English.

I have been involved in quite a few kids’ life. From little ones who are Sienna’s play dates to those who are about to venture out to the real world, I helped them solve their problems for them or with them. It hurts to think I would just let my own brother’s son come and go without getting any impact from me. Even he turns out to hate me, it would still give him a chance to wonder why. He might figure out something positive from it. I am taking extreme measures to see if we can make up some of the million opportunities that have been missed along the way.