Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The Way to a Teenage Boy's Heart . . .

Hallie over at Moxie Wife is collecting Five Favorites. As we continue to negotiate the sometimes turbulent water that is life with adolescent boys, we find ourselves turning to creature comforts to smooth the rough edges. Here are five that I recommend.

1. Flavored Creamer


Tim's been a big coffee drinker since a Boy Scout trip to Fort Gordon introduced him to the beauty that is caffeine. He's a prodigy, my boy, developed the habit young. But unlike his mother who takes hers piping hot with just a dash of cream, Tim likes sugary, gooey concoctions. I recoil at the mere sight of flavored creamers; Tim loves it.


2. Taquitos



And  not just any Taquitos. Oh, no, no. We prefer the steak and cheese variety. And no off brands, thank you very much. Well, last week I scored when Publix offered these babies buy one get one free.

3. Bacon

All varieties, served on anything.

4. Ice Cream


Moose Tracks are a favorite, but any port in a storm seems to be the teenage motto.


5. Heated Mattress Pad
Poor Tim. Our weather has been unseasonably cold, and his twin-sized mattress pad doesn't fit his new full-sized bed. If you need a birthday or Christmas gift for a teenager, nothing says I Love You like these cozy, electronic wonders.

Many years ago my good friend went through trials and tribulations with her teenage son. And as she wrung her hands and prayed and cried, an older, wiser mother gave her a simple piece of advice: Bake cookies.

Sometimes we really do want to throttle these kids of ours (and I'd hazard a guess that the feeling is mutual). Life sometimes seems to degenerate into an endless litany of instructions barked from my mouth to Tim's head-phoned ear.

Brush your teeth! Practice the piano! Take out the trash!

A dose of TLC helps.

For us, it helps a lot.



3 comments:

Kris said...

I'll swap you the taquitos for some pizza rolls or frozen pizza, and add in some straight up chocolate to go with the ice cream (or a hot fudge brownie sundae from Brusters) and you've got a winner in this teenage boy household.

Kelly@http:/inthesheepfold.blogspot.com said...

Kris - You have 3 teenage boys and 2 more heading fast toward adolescence? You can do a guest post on surviving boys without going broke or insane.

Kris said...

Only two teenagers at the moment. One grown daughter. But the younger two (almost 11 and 9) eat almost as much as the teenagers. But yes, I am the master at grocery shopping without going broke. Although I will say there is only so much you can do in that department. I just accept that it's the 2nd biggest line item in our budget (after the mortgage!) and that my husband and I will have LOTS of disposable income when we are no longer feeding the human garbage disposals!