I used to have a teenager in the house. They say that when you turn 18 you're an adult (I shouuld really write about that, but well, now isn't the time). Allowed to drink, vote, take responsibility for your life. Note the word allowed in there. You don't have to do all those things. They're optional.
Apparently my 18 year old opted out. They say that teenagers need their sleep. Its good for their (apparently) developing brains and stuff. I also happen to know from involvement in various fatigue studies and exercies that the best time to get sleep is when the body needs it. The key hours being those early hours of the day between oh, you know, about 1am and 5am. it has a lot to do with why they say you should plan travel around not driving at those times.
Back in the day I worked nightshift offshore for about 70 days straight. Sunset in the 'morning' and sunrise in the 'evening'. I know that it messes with your head.
When you're a teenager though, you mess with your own head, so why would you listen to anything like that?
I now have a nocteenager. Its when your teenager becomes nocturnal. I know this because I just coined the phrase. I googled to see if anyone else had. Don't bother, they haven't and the things that showed up were disturbing so just trust me on this.
I have threatened that the next time I find him sleeping past midday i might just come in with water propelling instruments so that I can enjoy waking him up far more than i currently do. I'm pretty sure that life passes you by when you're being woken up at 3:15 in the afternoon.
Things could be worse, don't get me wrong. There's no drugs, we know where he is at night (never far from the comptuer of the pantry) and things seem to be going okay. The first semester of Uni exams should be a good indicator. I've tried the precautionary tale. Hell I got my kcik up the bum with a taste of reality during first year uni, so I have some (very small amount of) empathy for him. But back the day, I had lectures I had to be at. Or a job to go to. Or sport to play. Hell, I just didn't seem to need to be awake at 4am so that my 12 hours of sleep would extend to the following afternoon. I had no internet, but hey, that's not the point dammit.
So yeah, I have a nocteenager and its driving me nuts. Just once I'd like to fall asleep not listening to a conversation about LOL and not worry that he's not going to be awake for one of those rare commitments that mean he has to be out of the door.
I'm not really looking for solutions and I know where to find sympathy, but its been a good while since I had a rant here so I thought I'd take the opportunity.
*deep breaths*
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