If teens could band together and form an interest group or lobby, they should collectively address the teen-bashing that is ubiquitous in American culture. Everyone assumes that raising teens is a nightmare, and if you’re a parent with a teenager who is not a. flunking out, b. in juvie, c. pregnant/getting someone pregnant, d. addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or food or e.) wreaking automotive havoc in your town, you are one step ahead of the game.
Parents have an unspoken code of sympathy when you tell them your kids are between 12-19. They shake their heads softly and try to say something encouraging like, “You’ll get through it.” And I have to admit, as a parent with younger kids, I’ve been dreading the onset of pimples & puberty for a number of years now.But this weekend on a ski trip at one of the less glitzy ski resorts east of the SF Bay area, I was pleasantly surprised by the teens I came in contact with.
One girl with long red hair sat next to us at lunchtime in the lodge. She was friendly and open, and smiled when I told her my 6 year old daughter thought she was pretty. She did not treat me like I was irrelevant to her world, nor did she seem to view me as ‘the enemy.’ She told us about the college she was planning to attend and about her favorite ski resort at Mt. Shasta. And she seemed to be getting along very well with her dad. Go figure.
Later, when I was getting a cup of water at the drinking fountain, a row of teen skiers leaned against the wall. When one boy asked a boy with a Justin Bieber-esque blown forward hair cut if he wanted to hit the slopes, the boy shook his head.
“I have a final tomorrow, dude.”
“So, you’re not coming back out?”
“Nah, I think I’ll just study for the rest of the afternoon.”
I looked around. There were no parents or guardians in sight that this boy could have been trying to hoodwink. His friend shrugged and strode out of the lodge, leaving me looking at the boy, aghast.
“I hope I hear my son say those words, some day,” I said.
He grinned. “How old is he?”
“Nine.”
“There’s still hope.”
And you know what? I actually believed him.
