This must be “dad give a speech” week. I have no idea what my 2 kids are thinking. Dirt Bike Boy needed an attitude adjustment and is living with me. Now I have to deal with Alpha Boy. He and I have always remained very close. We talk every couple days and text almost daily. But juggling a social schedule during the holidays and anything else you can image, we stay very busy. And Alpha Boy is no different. He also has his plate full of activities and responsiblities.
I called Alpha Boy to find out what he wanted to do on the weekend with me. He said, ” I have plans”. After a brief discussion he mentioned, “I haven’t spent the weekend with you in 3 weeks.. so I made plans.” It took about 3 seconds before I responded with my annual HNIC Dad speech.
“Look.. go get your calendar. I had a charity event that I attended on a weekend when you were with your mother. The following weekend was Thanksgiving. You always spend Thanksgiving with your grandma. Last weekend you had plans that you couldn’t change. So.. you’ve made plans on my time. Let me tell you how this work… when you are with your mom, you ask if it’s ok to do something. That means you need to do the exact same thing on my weekends. If you want to spend time with you’re welcome to bring them so we can include them in our weekend.”
Alpha Boy suggested that he spend extra time with me during the Christmas break. I thought it was a great idea and agreed. Every now and then I have to remind him that he’s not an adult. Even though he’s 15 and in a couple years he’ll be totally independent. But until then, he still has to be reminded to run his plans by me for approval.
Any one else experiencing visitation and holiday schedule conflicts? How do you handle schedule conflicts with your teens?
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