Reason 76 on my list of 'Why Cats are better than Kids' ! :lol:

My mother-in-law used to say "little kids, little problems; big kids-bigger problems"

i don't know how she coped - one son died in a farm accident at 16, one had Down Syndrome, and one had a serious accident at age 6 that left him permanently disabled with seizures. plus they had three others that are more or less normal. She was a faithful church attender.

My frustration is with an 18-year old granddaughter that refused to answer her phone after prom night - she "didn't feel like answering" - prom was over at midnight - she waltzed back home 24 hours later. And she could not understand why people were wondering where she was and if she was okay. She thinks that everyone, especially her father, was trying to be "controlling"

i have no grandkids and only one child but boy, i can totally understand.

I have two great kids...26 and 24... but parenting is a challenge.

I think we are more involved in our children's lives than our parents were in ours. After all, we now have cellphones, texting, Facebook, web cams, email, etc. to keep in touch and we see and hear much more intimately about our children than our parents did about us. I remember vividly my three minutes in the phone booth once a week when I was at university... :Hey Mom! Yep everything is great! How's Dad? I'll be home before you know it. Talk to you next week! BYE!" And some of things I did would have horrified my parents!!

AND then there's the dependency issue... more and more children just don't leave home like we did! I was graduated from university and working when I was 19.(Hence the age 49 and retired!) Both of mine, while financially independent are still students! So I think I should still be able to nose around in their lives and offer advice!

And while I never called my kids stupid I sure thought it a few times... and I still call my son "smelly"!

I found last year when DD was going through a rough patch and I was calling her frequently that she was really feeling fenced in... SO I stopped calling her. (still creeped around on Facebook following her a bit).. wasn't long before the phone was ringing here instead of there! Space was just what we both needed to see things in perspective.

Good Luck with your parenting... it is a job that never ends... and truthfully... would you REALLY want it to?

OHsue, get ready because yours is starting the boy/man syndrome. One day he will act like a little boy & want to be comforted & the next it's I'm a man leave me alone. My 15 year old is going thru this now &has been for several years. They do grow out of this. The funniest thing we ever saw was 3 guys in baggy to butt pants trying to push their car up a hill into a parking lot because it wouldn't start & they couldn't push & hold pants up at the time. My Dh nearly fell out of the truck laughing. We'll look back in a few years & tell them how crazy they were they won't believe us. Take pictures.

Our DARE officer told the 5th grade boys one year where the low pants trend began and what it meant. I've never seen kids yank their pants up so fast.

Tell us where/why the trend started, because I don't know.

I have 2 boys, 20 & 23, that have turned out to be kind, hardworking, loving kids. We got lucky. But every once in a while that "common sense" gene was no where to be found!

The low pants trend started in the prisons and means (to use a euphamism) "I'm available".

I spent the last 10 years working in the criminal justice system. I remember seeing a video they showed to the Probation officers where a "normal" looking HS boy standing there in baggy jeans and loose shirt began to take concealed weapons from his clothing. By time he was done he had take 26 guns knives and other lethal weapons from his person.

Here is one similar although he only has 12 - 14 on him.

http://www.freerepublic.com/%5Ehttp://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/561/513demohi.wmv