...the pimple, the detention, & Ferdinand Magellan

This brochure came home from school, promoting a program run by ‘ROPAK’ (Rites Of  Passage for Australian Kids) It’s one of many recent reminders that, as parents of an adolescent, we are entering The Difficult Years (strike dramatic chords of doom). 

There have also been special talks about how to keep them away from drugs and alcohol; we are armed with  pamphlets documenting scary neuroscience evidence regarding long term effects of said substances on under-eighteen brains. Handy hints on How To Communicate With Your Teenager ETC.

And now this graph, courtesy of ROPAK. According to which  ...subjective happiness (is there another sort?) peaks at age 12, then declines alarmingly till age 16. 

Funny how there’s always some ‘researcher’ who wants to come up with ‘scientific ‘ evidence to confirm the bleedin’ obvious, when all you need to do is drive past the local High School to see how hunched and self-conscious most of them look. I remember it well myself, the agonises and the ecstasies of adolescence. 

The other thing that came home from school this week was a Detention Slip. (Strike those Chords Of Doom) Regularly Late To Class, it said. It seems all seven of the boys in class got detentions. Seems they all suffer from selective deafness which causes them not to hear the end-of-lunch bell when they are playing soccer (which is whenever possible)

F was a bit pale as he handed the form to me for signing - it’s the first time he’s been In Trouble. I didn’t let him get off too lightly ie. made him sit through the serious “I’m not cross with you, but I want to understand what’s going on” talk. And the “Punctuality is important” talk. He couldn’t wait to escape. Back outside to kick the soccer ball. 

An hour or so later I found him whistling merrily as he carefully burnt the edges of a sheet of paper to make it look like ancient parchment. For a school project on Ferdinand Magellan and his Voyage of Discovery. (due last week) There was ash all over the kitchen but I didn’t have the heart to mention it. 

Ash - spotted kitchen, definitely in the ABNS category, as described by Engaging Your Adolescent seminar  ie Annoying But Not Serious

Oh, and the other marker of teenage-dom: His first pimple. On his chin. He seems quite proud of it.