ok to start with we are raising 5 kids so someone is in trouble at least once on a reglar basis. our oldest is acually my husbands brother. he is 17 and i love him dearly but i am constantly amazed at how little he thinks about things and how simple he can be. that being said here is an example.... We have four 6 week old chicks that we are carefully itroducing to the flock. Right now they are in a metal dog crate wrapped in chicken wire and sitting next to the ladies pen. We have been doing this for a little over a week. Next week the cage will be in the pen for another two weeks then we will let them all out to free range in an area that is not territory for any of them and then finally we will sneak the girls in at night when things are calm and let them out very early so they will not peck while waiting for their release in the morning. in all this will take weeks. That being said we have told all the children not to put the little oes with the ladies becasue they wil be attacked and killed. We explained how chickens peck and why they do it and that the little ones have no where to hide in the pen and how important it is to keep them where we put them. SO all the kids know and yet our 17 year old boy goes right out yesterday and puts my little EE in the big girls pen to " SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN" Are you kidding me???? the 6,7,8 year old would ever think of it. It would not cross our 16 year olds mind. But for some reason the 17 year old wants to see what will happen????? SO guess what happens. the chickens dive on her and start pecking her to peices. he saves her and comes in and tells us as if it is an interesting story and does not even get why we are angry. He says well i didnt know and i wanted to see what would happen.... and when we said we told you what would happen he said well i thought it would be okay. is it just me or at 17 should someone know better. What a dummy!!! By the end of the conversation he was still acting like he did not realize we were serious and so i asked if please he does not test out the garbage disposal with his hands and just take my word that it will eat his fingers. . The chick is okay a little ruffled and a few ouchies but she will be okay. i am just so agry he could have killed her. if it was one of the little ones i could understand a little better but he is almost 18 this child will vote soon god help us all. love the boy but geesh what a dumb thing to do. of course when speaking to him about it i just explained all the consequenses of putting the chicks in and we talked about his motives. the only nasty remark i made was about the garbage disposal. but i sure needed to vent. thanks guys. i am not even sure if he feels badly about it? what the heck
Sunds like my DD13...always gotta learn the hard way, and we the parents are just dumb...it's a goofy kid thing. When he's 25 he'll be okay, just keep him away from pointy objects until then
i hope so. but we have 4 more kids i have to worry about now too. last week they leaed out the window upstairs and pulled a chunk of stones off the chimmny to deter bad people climbing in the window. they had seen a movie or something. kids are crazy
I have raised foster and adopted children and there is somthing that is just not connected about some of them, Good luck !Sounds like this boy exhibits all the classic "bad " behavior. That can happen.
IMO... He is a male and 17...a dangerous combination! Just kidding, a little! Really, almost grown kids do the strangest things for no reason (in my mind), and I think some just need to learn by experience instead of taking well meant advice. You do know that right now you know nothing...but one day he will realize that you are intelligent...that is a wonderful day in a parents life! When all your talking and teaching finally sinks in, just about the time you really think you have failed to teach them anything! to you and pray for patience and understanding. Jean
Just wanted to share a little known fact that has helped me immensely in the patience department of raising my 2 knuckleheads. A persons brain does not stop physically growing until the mid twenties. The frontal lobes at 17 through 25 even, have not completed development. The area involved is the refining of reasoning skills....in other words it's why we are all so stupid at those ages. So, rest assured they WILL LITERALLY grow out of most of it! TRY as hard as it may be, to be patient with them. They really can't help it. All we can do is reinforce the rules and attempt to get them through it in one piece...makes me wonder why we let them operate machinery(drive) at such a young age!!!
Quote:So true and i did know they are not done developing but wow it can still just knock your socks off when common sense is missing. in theory i know this but in practice i am more like this you know? He is a pretty good kid i do not think there is bad intentions i just think he is a dumb teenager.
I have one of the nicest - sweetest 17 year olds I know - but I fear for her own safety out in the big world as she appears to have absolutely ZERO common sense. I see now that it is a common affliction. I think that we just have to pray that they don't kill themselves, their siblings, us, or any unsuspecting bystanders (including adorable EE chicks). I don't think there is much else to be done. I did just read a post about whacking a rooster with a big stick - and I did take pause to consider that if the rooster with its tiny little brain could be taught with a stick... well you see where I'm going here... ultimately I have decided that the rooster can be taught with the stick because it has some sense of pecking order AND self preservation. 17 year olds seem to be in possession of neither. Thankfully - we get addicted to chickens and not teenagers. I don't know what would happen to us if we went from 6 teenagers to 40 plus in a year. Good luck to you! Adult beverages (for you) seem to have some positive affect on this type of frustration.
Quote:Yup..its not his "age".. or being a "boy"... its called lack of empathy..and its a real scary thing... Please watch him closely around your animals from now on..