Between my husband and I, we have raised 6 teenagers… boys and girls! One thing I have learned over the years is that the moment you attempt giving advice, they will bolt like a Ferel animal!
Why? Hormones!
Teenagers are similar in behavior, to a hot blooded Thoroughbred Race Horse… always hungry, mad, excited, horny and quite sweaty! You feed them the best you can, and try to sooth them when they are angry. You try to calm them when they won’t stop bouncing off the walls, and diligently make efforts to coral them from freely using their private parts.
Daily, you make every effort to hose them off before they leave the house… throwing a stick of deodorant in their general direction. Ok, well, a horse may not know how to use a stick of deodorant, but then again, neither do most teenagers. I caught one of my kids using a can of Febreze for body spray… not even kidding!
I will go back even further, into my teenage years, confirming that I myself had intentionally assigned ALL adults with the label of ENEMY #1. Whether it was hormones, a traumatic upbringing or both… I did NOT listen to anyone!
No amount of coercing could entice me to go back and re-experience my teenage years, and quite honestly, kids today look the same as we did back then… hungry, mad, excited, horny and, yes… sweaty!
If I were to do anything for my teenage self… it would be to protect her, shelter her, encourage her, and guide her through my example, instead of my wordy grownup words…
Here, have a cookie…
Journey With Me! 
The first half made me lol a couple of times. And maybe one snort 😂
LikeLike
I think advice is like tools. You may not know how to use it at the moment, but there may be a time it will be useful. My son is almost 18. I’m always talking to him. Yeah, you are correct as far as him listening at this point, but eventually in his life it will make sense. I think back to how I grew up. I didnt ever have the talks that my son and I have. I was never given tools. I had to find my own. I wish I had someone like me to tell me some of these things, because if I would listen to anyone as a teenager, if probably would be an older version of myself. I would be like “well, obviously you know something… we made it to 47 without too much damage.” Haha
LikeLiked by 1 person