The Terrible 20s

They call it the terrible 2’s but I think they forgot the zero.

Everyone has heard of the Terrible 2s. I always said Ginja’s Terrible 2’s never stopped, but she is 20 now [almost 21] and this might be tougher.

When they are 2 years old they are physically everywhere and you have to always be chasing them to make sure they are ok and don’t stick their finger in a socket or dive down the stairs. I was exhausted keeping up with my 3 year old niece when she stayed over one weekend, recently. This is why no one should have kids in their late 40’s unless you are a trained ultra-marathoner.

When your kids reach 18, and you aren’t brain fried yet [note: this is closer than you think], as parents you are forced to start backing off. You are still paying for everything like school, health insurance & car insurance but you have to suddenly treat them like an adult. It’s like 18 is a magical age when they can have graduated High School and the government gives them a say and lets them vote so they claim independence… of NOTHING really. By 20 they think they know EVERYTHING about life and you are forced to watch all this go down. I equate it to letting your two year old walk up to a life size electrical socket and trust they won’t stick their finger in it to see what happens.

Sticking your finger in that socket is definitely a fast way to learn a lesson but it isn’t safe. This is why we find other ways to teach them rather than just going for it and letting them learn on their own THE HARD WAY.

That is what it is! When they are twenty you have to hope and pray they don’t learn those life lessons THE HARD WAY. You have to let them learn their own lessons, because they sure as hell don’t want to listen to the parents who know NOTHING, and hope they learn safely and it doesn’t ruin the rest of their lives.

You are forced to watch them struggle into this infancy of real adulthood and you do have to watch because you have to be ready to pick up the pieces. Then they call… and they are upset and all you want to do is make it better or go deal with the bully that is bothering them but you can’t because the bully is probably their boss but more importantly you just have to try to gently guide them to figure it out.

I’m exhausted!