Teen = Angst

If you are unfamiliar with the equation, chances are you don't have any teenage children and I envy you. Every decision, every consequence, every discussion, and every relationship is fraught with angst. It's exhausting to watch.

Take my son. Well, don't really take him, he's a good kid and I'll keep him, but check out this example... He is signed up for 4 advanced courses for his 10th grade year. He came to me and said that he would like to drop AP World History.

Now, this particular course has already caused us undue stress. It is a two year sequence and the teacher insists upon using homework questions based on a textbook. A textbook that is NOT the textbook she has provided to the students. And the answers don't seem to be in the classnotes either. Last year we spent approximately 12,346 hours looking for answers to very precise questions based on text that we had no access to.

Anyway, he is going to take IB PreCalc, Honors English, and Physics. I have no problem with him dropping the class. None. I showed no resistance. I offered to contact the guidance department to try to figure out what he needs to take in place of the class from hell.

And yet... he continues to bring it up. It's as if he expected me to argue it with him so keeps stating his points. I've tried everything. So now I am just riding his wave of angst. I suppose once his schedule is changed it will end. Or he will get an ambiguous text from some girl that will redirect his angst to some intense social issue.

Maybe I'll just take a picture of him and caption it "Got Angst?"