Anonymous wrote:OP, same boat. Mine is 17 right now and the past year has been really tough. He isn't even bad-bad, he keeps his grades up, he doesn't get into trouble at school, no drugs/alcohol. But he's too often an obnoxious smug little sh*t with us.
My DH and I both grew up in difficult situations with bitter nasty divorces, and parents with substance abuse and mental illness. It's doubly hard for us because our DS' life is golden in comparison. Yes there are the usual teen stresses, school, college applications, friends, hormones, etc., that we recognize. But he's never come home from school to a parent passed out by 4pm, or the power being shut off for days because it hasn't been paid.
I keep going by telling myself that one day he'll turn around and will if not appreciate his parents, at least not be such a snot.
OP here. I can totally relate to that. My DS is 14 yo and he is not bad bad. Just seems to be rude and disrespectful with me. Their life is so much easier compared to ours. We went through the same stage but honestly I don't remember being like this. I cant stop but think that it is because of the privileges we provided, they have no appreciation for things. We moved to this country 20 years ago and built our lives from scratch and worked so hard to provide every luxury to them. I cant even kick him out as he is still 14 and I keep thinking that maybe he will turn around. If not, I just need to get used to this, swallow a pill for next 4 years and be happy on the inside when he moves out.