Red Mum column March 2

From 'big heads' to good music - teenagers think they know it all

I wrote recently about the teenage art of communication and only touched on the loud-teen ramblings parents are subjected to during the adolescent stage.

And it is important, hard as it can be sometimes, to listen to the chittering of nonsense because maybe in the midst of all there is something important.

Like many other parents I am as guilty as the next for saying ‘ah Jaysus give my head peace!’ so I need to work on my listening skills.

However judging by recent conversations with the Young Wan I probably need to work on my people skills too. Here’s an example.

Young Wan: “Do I have a big head?”

Me: “Ehmm yeah you do have kinda have a biggish head.”

Blank yet confused look from the Young Wan…

Me: “Well no it’s not big big, it's not even big, it’s completely in proportion with your body. You don’t have a big head but you don’t have a small head. It is just right.”

Young Wan: “Just cos you have a small head, huh!”

Me: “No I don’t have a small head, I just don’t have a big head.”

There is a fair amount of teasing goes on in our household from all quarters and the Young Wan is up there with the best.

She does a pretty funny impression of me dancing and has been doing it since she was about 8.

My favourite way to wind her up involves pretending to dance whilst perusing aisles in the supermarket. She walks away.

My other favourite thing is to grab her hand as we cross roads, she absolutely hates this, well I suppose she is 14 and I wouldn’t have been caught dead holding my Mum’s hand at that age.

Holding Mum’s hand stopped in our household by the age of nine. She would hold other people’s hands, it was the Mummy hand that made it a major faux-pas.

Crossing the road over the weekend I took her hand and to my amazement she held onto it.

So I couldn’t resist swinging our arms and skipping. My hand was dropped as quick as a flash.

Hey if you can’t have a bit of fun or teasing with your own child, who can you do it with?

And don’t think I am immune to this teasing, far from it.

The Young Wan will actually tease me about my northern accent. Hey at least I can speak properly AND prounounce my ‘th’ as in three and not tree. Come on that causes no end of confusion.

The sense of humour she has developed over the years has me in absolute stitches.

While I have great fun mercilessly poking fun at the awful music she prefers, she has a laugh at some of my music, even if she gets it slightly wrong.

Marvin Gaye is the latest artist to come under her scrutiny only she has been getting it a bit wrong.

This was her latest sweeping and unfounded statement.

“I hate Marvin Gaye ‘aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh love to love you babbby, ahhhh’. Marvin Gaye is so rubbish.”

“Ehm I think you’ll find that you are singing the great disco classic by DONNA SUMMER.’

*Sigh* The next lesson from Red Mum to the Young Wan is a crash course in ‘good’ music.

Technorati tags: redmum irishblogs Redmum column The Echo march 2