Do I hear Aye, Aye from the entire planet’s mass of persecuted parents? Why do teenagers have to be such a pain to live with in the first place? They are by far harder than your spouse, than your nosy neighbor and than your slave-driving boss.

You see, it’s paradoxical. When the proverbial stork initially delivers these “creatures”, otherwise fondly referred to as babies, they come with some level of management, but painful as it can be sometimes, it’s usually within your abilities if you stretch yourself.

I called my children this morning. While catching up on all the xbox 360 news with my son who is 10, out of the blue  he said:

“Mum, you did not told me that Papa (Dad) was married to Liz!”

“Well I thought you knew, I mean your brother and sister live with her… Isn’t it obvious that she would be their mother?”

“Well… yeah… but I thought Alex came out of you! And Stuzz too.  I did not know that Liz was their mum.”

I am trying to teach my daughter about clutter management but I think I may as well give up now.

About 3 or 4 months ago, I agreed on taking on my daughter’s friends  as she was having issues with her mother and was apparently kicked out of her home…  She was only 14 and I thought it would be a very temporary solution, a few weeks at most…  and it felt as she was already living in my home as she was always sleeping over! But I did not realized that the friend also had a read more