<p>One week to go before junior year ends, and it can't be soon enough. DS is so moody and surly, as he prepares for next week's 6 finals. The stress is getting to him, I know. I'm trying to help him through it, but little seems to help.</p>
<p>A good friend also mentioned today that her otherwise upbeat, together and sweet junior son had turned into a bear as The End Approaches.</p>
<p>Just venting here, and wondering if there are other miserable parents out there.</p>
<p>Well, I’m a junior and I admit to this.</p>
<p>@always leah: Well, you made me LOL for the first time since school got out today, so thank you for that! I know it’s a tough time. Good luck to you, but try to be nice to your Mom and Dad, too, okay?</p>
<p>D is hating on her math teacher - math final is first!! She’s complaining no end that she is so tired of ALL of the junior year classes :).</p>
<p>Jane, I’ll try. Sleep deprivation does not put me in a happy mood. Glad I could make you smile :)</p>
<p>Not a parent, but the way I treated my parents junior and senior year of HS was shameful. After the SATs, it’s time for the college search (somewhat fun) and then applications (miserable). I remember hating that time of my life and dragging people down with me.</p>
<p>Power through it!</p>
<p>We have 2 juniors and they are both surly…one more week, one more week, one more week…</p>
<p>Just wait until the end of senior year nears - or the month before they leave for college!! They become so nasty you can’t wait for them to leave.</p>
<p>^^ VERY TRUE UMMom! Been there, done that twice already, kind of like having a 2 year old again.</p>
<p>Yep, this end of junior year surliness is just a tiny foretaste of what’s to come. Fasten the seatbelts and start the countdown.</p>
<p>My D is exhausted and emotional… Stress seems to be winning with her too.</p>
<p>I advise the “smile and nod” while in your head chanting “Do Not Engage! Do Not Engage”!</p>
<p>I wish I could lock myself in my room and hide till next week is over! DD’s classes were mostly populated with seniors, and I think their -itis is contageous. After last week, her average class size went from 26 to 5 and she is in such a bad mood going to and coming from school as a result.</p>
<p>I, unfortunately HAD to engage as Spanish 5 teacher contacted me to inform on DD, who had not done a single Achieve spanish reading all semester (DD has hated Achieve’s since the 8th grade and just refused to do the “busy work”). Teacher gave her an option, do 3 times as many as required in 2 days, and get her grade restored to the 98 she has on all other work or take the low B. </p>
<p>After talking, cajoling, yelling, and finally threatening to take away the car for the summer, she finally sat down and did them - 48 in 65 minutes! DH wanted to kill her - this issue was threatening her 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>She acts like her teacher, DH and I are sooooooo lame for pushing this issue.</p>
<p>I need the next 10 weeks to recover and arm up for next year.</p>
<p>Actually mine is too burned out to be surly…just looking forward to the end of the year. Junior year is the toughest.</p>
<p>It doesn’t end with high school. I mean that as a laugh, a shoulder shrug and eye roll. It’s part of the whole challenge of growing up at this stage. The stakes are higher than they were in other transitions. I use the toddler analogy lots. It really helps to stand back, breathe. What you model right now (and over the next few years,) will sink it, but it takes our energy. I don’t think they realize it what they’re doing. And, though the ups and downs persist, it does get better.</p>
<p>So, I’m with UMM: “smile and nod.” Give 'em a hug even if they don’t want it. Find legit things to praise. It’s a real case of “find the love.” I even remind them of that great Bill Murray line: who’s your buddy, who’s your pal? Good luck.</p>
<p>SAME here-- junior d is so edgy and wanting to pick a fight. I can hardly keep my patience. She’s done with her AP’s and has a few finals in her non AP classes next week. I feel like all I do is talk to her about losing “priviledges” ie limiting the number of graduation parties she is allowed to go to this weekend, or use of the car. Any tips about keeping my cool?? She’s getting a new fall sports coach, a new school guidance counselor and she is finally back on speaking terms after a month of awkwardness with her prom date (prom was 4 weeks ago). </p>
<p>I remember hating these parts of high school and thinking my parents were out to ruin my life… I guess it’s payback time for me. Ha Ha. And my freshman D escapes to her room to avoid all tension. She’s the one who should be stressing with 6 final exams next week in 3 days. She’s not pleasant either…</p>
<p>Sad, very sad. Should I hire a standbye mommy and exit the house as much as possible?</p>
<p>No juniors in my house yet, just a freshman. And she just got grounded for life. Talk about surly…I have spent all of my spare time this past week organizing different acceptable things to keep her busy this summer, so she is not stalking around the house staring at me. Is it normal for them to try those things that we have warned them against time and again? Is being young a good reason to do stupid things? (her words)</p>
<p>I have so far gotten her set up with one long day a week volunteering at a thrift store. Another busy day doing tutoring at an inner city outreach. One or two days of regular babysitting. We will also be making regular trips to the library since she is only allowed the distraction of reading right now.</p>
<p>I guess we all go through this stuff, just really hoping that her bad choices will improve with age. I wish she was more stressed about her finals instead of worrying about hanging out with friends and all that she is now missing out on.</p>
<p>similar to momofthreeboys, my child is just tired. Sports are dragging on, and end of the year projects in the AP classes are a pain!</p>
<p>Common phrase at our house these days, 'you know, you CAN spend all summer in your room". I understand that they are edgy and it’s been a stressful year but we certainly don’t put up with attitudes here and need to be reminded of that, a lot lately :D. It’s been shortened to “room?”, like just now when I had to run DD to school and she took on an attitude…keeping in mind she COULD have taken the BUS…:D.</p>
<p>Junior D is a good kid, bright, generally hard working, but not always pleasant to be around. It seems she lost the desire or ability to carry on a conversation with us around her sophmore year. One anecdote. She plays viola in several orchestras and takes private lessons. We were paying for them and in return she promised to practice. About midway through her sophmore year we realized she was doing very little practicing. We discussed it came up with some solutions that really didn’t work. Finally we decided what we wanted was for her to practice and what she wanted was the private lessons. She had a bank account. We told her we would pay her for practicing and she had to pay for the lessons out of her account. She had some money in her account so it took a little while but she did start practicing once she saw her balance declining. Her attitude about practicing improved too.</p>