I'm A MEAN MOM...And Proud Of It!!!!

Care if I vent just a little? Please bear with me, as I have a few things to get off my chest. Here goes nothing!! Brittany, you know how much I love you...but you do give me a lot of great blogging material!

OK, so here's the deal. Last night, if you can believe it, Andrew actually took Brittany out to dinner. Yes, you heard me! Shocking, I know, but it was his 17th birthday. Oh, I was so excited, I could barely sleep a wink the night before! (cough, cough)

Anyhow, Andrew told Brittany that he would pick her up at 5:30. First of all, let me just say that we don't normally allow Brittany to go out on dates during the school week. She has so much on her plate with getting up at 5:15 AM, going to school all day, running 6-8 miles after school at cross country practice, doing homework, etc. Plus, she has to manage to eat sometime and take a shower! I'm sure you get the picture. Secondly, every single time Andrew picks Brittany up to go somewhere, he is ALWAYS 10-20 mins. late. Drives us crazy!! On top of that, the boy can't call her and let her know that he's running behind. She always has to call him and find out what's taking him so long.

So, back to the story! Lo and behold...5:30 rolled around...no Andrew. I told Brittany that I had a feeling he was going to be late. Sure enough, at 5:45, she called him and he said he'd be there in 5 mins. So, he picked her up at 5:50 and they were on their way. Let me just say that when I agreed to allowing her to go out to dinner with Andrew, I made it very clear that they were to go the restaurant, eat dinner, and come home. Brittany even told me that Andrew invited her over to his house to have cake, afterwards, but she told him she couldn't because she had a project to work on. I said that was a very good decision.

Well, around 7:15...no Brittany and Andrew. I sent her a text that said, "Where are you? You need to get HOME!" I don't want to invade her space too much by actually calling her. I got no response...then I saw them walking to the front door at 7:20. Mind you, they'd had a whole hour and a half to spend together and celebrate Andrew's birthday!

So, I'm thinking they'd take a few minutes to declare their undying love for one another and say their goodbyes. Well, 7:45 rolled around and I was trying to fix something on the computer (scary, I know!), so I sent Abby downstairs to tell Brittany to come in the house NOW. She had to do it twice, in fact, before Brittany finally came inside at close to 8:00.

Well, good ol' Mom was not a HAPPY CAMPER. You have to understand that each and every time Brittany and Andrew go out, he always brings her home at the time we say BUT, they sit out on the front porch for anywhere from 30 mins. to an hour talking. Drives us BONKERS!! I mean, it doesn't just happen once in a blue moon, but every single time!! For some reason, it isn't clicking in those teenaged brains of theirs that curfew means the time to be in the house, not standing outside for an eternity!

So, with Chris out of town, I made the decision to ground Brittany from going out with Andrew the entire weekend. The only time she can see him is at the cross country meet tomorrow, which is unavoidable. A weekend without Andrew? Oh, how shall I ever survive? :) When I laid the law down, Brittany complained that I'm treating her like she's 12 years old. Well, until she and Andrew learn to read a clock, that's how it's going to be! Let's see, when the little hand is on the 7 and the big hand is on the 12...

Yes, Brittany wasn't very happy with me. Before she went to bed, though, she gave me the longest, tightest hug ever. She apologized for not listening to me and said she'd work hard to do better. Oh, how I wanted to say that she wasn't really grounded, afterall...but I held firm! I love my girls with all my heart and soul and they are two great kids, no doubt. Chris and I are very fortunate. Thank the Good Lord above! Nonetheless, I think that as a parent, you can't put your desire to be their best friend above being their parent. I'm a firm believer that kids need boundaries.

Trust me, for those of you who don't already know, having a teenager requires lots of patience, understanding, and a good sense of humor. Plus, it often makes you realize that your parents knew way more than you gave them credit for when you were growing up.

So, I guess I've earned the title of MEAN MOM and I must admit...I'm pretty proud of it! :)