The Things Teenagers Say

Moe has a dilemma. A very huge dilemma. He doesn't know who to take to his Homecoming Dance! He told me that he has four girls to choose from, but can't decide which girl to take. This was the conversation that I had with Mr. Casanova Moe:

"Moe, how do you know any of these girls will say yes to you?"

Moe rolls his eyes and responds, "Mom. Of course they're going to say yes."

"The dance is just around the corner, if I were you I would ask one those girls...NOW. Some one else is going to ask them."

Moe smiles and says, "That's not going to happen, they're waiting for me to ask them."

(Yeaaah right. Moe has many female friends, but I'm afraid that his overconfidence may just come right back and bite him in the butt and he'll be dateless. I hope that doesn't happen!)

He's also picked up a few of his parent's bad habits. It's one of those things that as a parent, you wish you could tell your kid, "Do as I say, not as I do." Renaissance Man and I are notorious for getting out of invitations for events that we don't want to attend. The usual excuse that we use is that our family will be out of town and because I don't want our excuses to be a lie...we pack up and go away! We are soooo pitiful.

Here's a snippet of a phone conversation I had with Moe. An example of our bad habits influencing Moe:

"Hey Mom. Can Mike and Andre come over?"

"Of course they can."

"What I can't hear you! Did you say that Mike and Andy CAN"T come over?!" (At this point Moe is talking very loud and slow.)

"I SAID that they CAN come over! They're welcome here any time!" (I'm talking very loud because I believe that he can't hear me.)

"Oh, you mean they CAN'T come over?!"

I yell into the phone, "I SAID THEY CAN COME OVER!"

Moe hurriedly whispers into the phone, "Mom, work with me here, I DON'T want them coming over, I need to take a nap!" (Yes, my 17 year old still loves to take naps whenever he can)

"Ohhh....Okay. No, they can't come over." (I know they can't hear me on the other side, but you never know if one them has supersonic hearing.)

"So, you don't want them to come over because you're taking me out to lunch?" (Does that sound like set up to you?)

"Yeaahh. Sure, I only want to take you out to lunch." (Now I feel like the mean mom who doesn't want any of her kids friends coming over the house.)

"Wow. If you really feel that strongly, I'll just have to tell them that they have to go home. I'll see you later, mom." Right before he hangs up, I hear him tell his friends, "Sorry guys, she won't budge." (Moe is really making me look like the bad guy, I guess that's what parents are for???)

I'll be taking Moe to lunch because I don't want to make a liar out of my son. And when we go out to lunch, we're going to have a nice heartfelt parent to son chat, and I'll start our conversation by saying this, "Do as I say, not as I do...."

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Moe just came home with Mike and Andre! I asked him what changed his mind that he let his friends come over. He said, "Well, I still want to take a nap, but I felt bad that they were going home to an empty house."

I guess I don't have to have that parent to son chat after all. RM & I should take a few pointers from him!