Jul 26 2008
Toddlers and Teens as Instruments of Torture
They’re not that far removed, teens and toddlers I mean. They’re both about testing limits, pushing the envelope, exacting their will. When their efforts are met with unyielding barriers, they respond in kind. Toddlers throw tantrums because their understanding of language is limited, they express their anger and frustration physically - throwing things, flailing, screaming incoherently. Teens throw a somewhat evolved tantrum involving eye-rolls, muffled shrieks, and slammed doors. Their somewhat broader vocabulary suddenly limited to “oh my God” and “whatever” and my favorite “I don’t care.”
It’s enough to drive a person to drink. Not me per se, but maybe another person.
If you want to torture someone, interrupt their sleep periodically with the piped in sonata of a screaming two year old or have them try to solve a quadriatic equation with a small child hanging on to their pant leg shrieking “mommy, mommy, mommy”.
Or you could go the other route. Send them to the grocery store with a surly teen, who alternately talks your ear off about their love of cheese then broods while casting you loathing glares.
It’s never a dull time, I’ll tell you that much.
