Sometimes I understand why some species eat their young

[mathnerd]

We got my oldest son a new bed last weekend, upgrading from a twin to a king (it was free...I was actually looking for a full or queen, and since a king fits, "free" overrode all other factors). Anyway, we had to move stuff around to make room, and take some of the posters off the wall where the headboard was going to be placed. Well, when we removed one of them, we found a giant hole in the wall. By giant, I mean easily two adult fists could fit in the hole with room to spare. Then we started taking down *all* the posters to see what else he was hiding. We found to more holes almost as big. I'm beyond irritated. This is an old house and the walls are plaster, so it's not nearly as easy a repair as drywall. I suppose he's going to get a lesson on home repair.

Does anybody need a spare 17 year old?

[dalesys]

My dad said the way to deal with teenagers was to nail them in a barrel when they turned/acted 13 and feed them through the bunghole. When they turned 21 you could either (A) let them out (B) pound in the bung.

My opinion is that teenage stupidity is an evolutionarily selected survival mechanism so that (paradoxically) more of them survive because their parents don't kill them...

...out of the misguided hope that something else will!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Heh heh m heh heh, you said bunghole. Heh heh.

[morgana]

My dad said the way to deal with teenagers was to nail them in a barrel when they turned/acted 13 and feed them through the bunghole. When they turned 21 you could either (A) let them out (B) pound in the bung.

My dad used to say the same thing.

Mathnerd, at least the holes were only the size of fists. One of my teenage stepsons put the other one into the wall. Yes, you read that right. Dennis took awhile to get mad, but when he did . . .

I was just glad Randy's ass missed the studs . . .

[mathnerd]

Pretty sure that the only reason there's not a boy size hole is pure dumb luck. There's a door downstairs that also has to be replaced due to a game of chase your six foot brother while angry ended with said brother being stopped by his head running into a locked door.

[Kittish]

It... could be worse. He could have been using the holes as stashes for stuff.

[mathnerd]

Good point. Though they're high enough that it would have been nearly impossible to retrieve without drawing attention to himself.

[notalwaysright]

lol, you guys. I remember one of my step brothers ended up with his own complete set of dishes. They were plastic. Why? Because every single time he put a cup or plate into the sink he managed to chip or break it. I don't know if it was really by accident, or if he was trying to get out of doing dishes. *shrug* Either way, he ended up with those brownish plastic cups that some diners use, among other random dinnerware that my mom clearly picked up at yard sales. But hey, her dishes stopped getting broken.

I wasn't destructive as a teenager. As a little kid, yes. I would paint the walls with nail polish, or try to make my own milkshake and get milk sprayed over every single square inch of the kitchen. As a teenager I was sarcastic, and also didn't like my step dad. Oh, a teenager who didn't like her step parent! How dull was I?

[HotelMinion]

My parents were strict in that they would've reamed us a new one if we made holes in the walls, even little ones made by pushpins for posters. Though my sis did once punch a hole in the wall as a teen when she was angry, IDK how she survived. Firstborns are always the favorites, I guess! :\

[Racket_Man]

Does anybody need a spare 17 year old?

I will trade you for a 29 year old LOL

[mathnerd]

My parents were strict in that they would've reamed us a new one if we made holes in the walls, even little ones made by pushpins for posters. Though my sis did once punch a hole in the wall as a teen when she was angry, IDK how she survived. Firstborns are always the favorites, I guess! :\

It's a teaching opportunity. The kids fix what they break, and then some. I'm teaching him plaster wall repair, then he will be my helper when I rip out the first floor bathroom next month or so. That's how it works with all of them if they break stuff. Middle kid threw something (nothing intentionally destructive, just tossed something in the general direction of his dresser and overshot), breaking the glass in his window. So he learned how to replace window glass by fixing it. The frame on a much larger window in the living room needs to be fixed (3 X 6 feet, huge and heavy and just busted from 50 years of near daily opening and closing). He will be the helper on that project whenever we get around to it. I figure that showing them how much work it is to repair the stuff is a much better teacher than yelling and screaming at them, plus they get valuable life skills in the process.

[CyberLurch]

I figure that showing them how much work it is to repair the stuff is a much better teacher than yelling and screaming at them, plus they get valuable life skills in the process.

That is an AWESOME approach to parenting.

Murphy (the guiding force in my life... ha ha) said that the amount of learning accomplished is directly proportional to the amount of equipment destroyed.

Murphy, after all, WAS an optimist.

[Crai]

Step Brother and myself use to get into fights we got good at patching holes in dry wall. I once broke a window and had to go to the hardware store buy replacment glass and the puddy then spent an afternoon learning how to replace a window pane.

Making the kids fix it is a great lesson. They learn that breaking stuff sucks and how to repair things. So one day when they have their own home they know what to do.

[Dreamstalker]

That's what my parents did (well, dad mostly)...I broke it, I got to fix it. Of course that led to a few incidences where I'd break stuff (that I knew could be easily fixed to begin with) so I could learn how to fix it...

[mathnerd]

We got all but one patched. Mr Mathnerd doesn't know how to fix walls and he's out of town so he asked me to wait till he gets back to teach him how to do it. So I left the one that's behind the headboard. He can help me move the bed.