I have been seeing the signs for months…probably a year, but we have a teenager.  She is only 12 in actual age, but we are so there in attitude!!  Actually, she is a dream most days, but we are having those moments.  She told me on Friday that she really wanted layers in her hair.  She has very thick hair, so I thought that would be nice.  I decided  I could cut it myself.  How hard could that be, right?  As I was cutting, she told me to make a few bangs that blend down into the layers on the side.  OK…no problem.  I was pretty proud of myself.  It looked good, she was happy and I saved 22 bucks!  The  next day, she got up and still loved it.  Bailey asked if I would cut hers and Julia got all huffy and said, “No, you just want some because I got some!”  Then, several of our friends saw her that afternoon and told her how good it looked and that it made her look older.  She was beaming!

I was thinking the whole thing had gone pretty well  until she washed her hair and dried it Saturday night.  She has natural wave in her hair, she the bangs that she wanted straight weren’t cooperating.  Also, you know how it is when you get a new style.  It takes a while to learn to fix it right.  Anyway, she came downstairs, crying and telling us how she hated it, she had never liked it, she had not wanted layers but had only wanted it cut short.  As calmly as I could, I replayed all the comments she had made over the last day about it and how everyone had liked it.  She was still upset and shaking her head, telling me she hadn’t ever liked it from the moment I cut it.  I did what any parent would do:  I called her a liar.

After rewetting it and me helping her dry it, it was some better.  I will have to buy a hair straightener for her but she has to understand that you can’t use it everyday or she’ll fry off those bangs!  It actually looked really cute this morning but I didn’t dare ask her if she liked it.   But, she’ll have to wash it again tonight, so we’ll probably have some more drama.

I can’t complain much though…she is so very helpful to us at home.  She is finally keeping her room clean and she watches her sisters a lot for us!  She also is so great at church.  She volunteers on Sunday mornings and watches the kids at our Life Group on Sunday night.  I remember the days when I didn’t mind watching little kids…but, by the time you really need to be earning money, you are too busy and don’t want to watch kids anymore!

In other teenager news, I had to write checks for her to go on 2 field trips this morning.  They are going to a camp to learn about “common ground plan.”  Who knows!  Anyway, that was $40.  Then, she is going with the Beta Club to tutor some 3rd graders.  That costs $5 to go but they need $10 to eat lunch out somewhere.  She never eats $10 worth!  So, for her to help a 3rd grader, it is costing me $15!  Then, she also needed $12 for a band t-shirt.  Geez!!!  I’m glad we send them to public school!  I guess I’m just uptight because I just sent $23 for Bailey’s field trip last week, Madi went swimming everyday with school last week and that cost $20 and she’ll go to the NC Zoo later this year and that will be $40.