Teenagers!!

What is it with teens (and pre-teens)? Good grief!

Today started like any normal day, everyone up and out to school or work. During my commute, DH calls to tell me that our oldest child (OC) has a disaster area for a bedroom and needs to be told to clean it. Can't do anything about that until the afternoon so I continue on to work.

While on my lunch break (taken very late today due to "crises" that kept arising every time I was ready to go), DH left me a voice message. He had called home and talked to OC and she had proceeded to argue/debate with him about the necessity of cleaning her room -- she doesn't like to put her dirty clothes in the hamper, doesn't want to keep her clean clothes in the closet (too much work to open the door and put clothes away or take them out), and on and on. This sort of behavior/attitude really pisses off DH.

I tried to call her but she was out picking up her little sister from school and our son missed the bus, so he wasn't home to take a message. When he called to tell me about the bus, I warned him about his sister and that she might be in a bad mood. Next time I tried calling, MC (middle child) was home and OC was in her room, and according to MC didn't want to talk to anyone (I told him to tell her that was unacceptable and to come talk to me, but by the time he made it back upstairs, she'd gotten in the shower). He also told me that he was going to do his chores and her chores since she was busy in her room. I went over what needed to be done, and told him to tell OC to call me back.

While on my commute home, MC called and asked if he could go to the nearby elementary school with a friend. He implied that all the chores were done, I told him to be home before dark, and he agreed.

I got home and NONE of the chores were done, MC had left his backpack out, did not have his cell phone, and according to OC had never told her that I had called and that she needed to call me back. OC had worked on her room but was still argumentative. While I was having a calm discussion with OC, DH came home, and was immediately irritated that MC wasn't home and hadn't done his chores, etc. DH drove up to the school to find him, but he wasn't there, so we pulled out his cell phone and started calling friends, starting with the one he was supposed to be with (he wasn't). DH just got more and more pissed. OC finally got up and started doing chores -- talking the whole time (motormouth).

DH left for the gym, and I waited for MC to get home. He was late -- it was already dark. He acted like he had no idea why we would be upset with him. But this is not the first (second, or third) time that he has completely disregarded the rules and lied. You would think with as many times as he's been caught and disciplined he would know better, but I swear sometimes that his brain completely shuts down. And he is such the consummate liar -- unless we've actually got proof of the wrongdoing, it's very hard to tell when he's lying. Test scores indicate intelligence, but sometimes we have to wonder. DH was so pissed he actually talked about spanking him to get the point across -- for DH to even suggest spanking the kids is an indication of how angry he was.

I've taken his cell phone, DS, and computer access away -- again. He's restricted to the house except for outside chores, school, and family activities for at least a week and a half. This usually works for awhile but eventually he do it all over again.

Part of the enforcement problem is that there's no adult supervision when they get home from school. No way to resolve that at this time, but hopefully by next school year (when OC enters the main high school), I'll be working part-time and home in the afternoon.

Don't have the answers, just hope we survive the teen years (2 at the same time, one female, one male -- I hope we make it out sane).