Texting my patience... ;-)

Kiddo has a cell phone we got him because there is no phone at his house and he would have no way to contact anyone if his mom is gone. He has been very well behaved with it--followed the rules and hasn't gone crazy with minutes.

After his workout today he sat on the couch to rest and regroup. He had his cell phone in his hand and I said "what game are you playing?" just to be friendly and show interest. Turns out he was texting. This was quite a shock. Yeah, he's fifteen, but WAY behind socially/emotionally. Very bright but pretty much hates everyone his own age. Hangs out with adults and young kids. Except maybe for that girl he met at school??? (I wonder if she realizes just how much younger he is than her--probably three years younger by the sounds of things). It's easy to think a 6'2" kid is a senior, when he is most assuredly NOT and not even close.

The reason it was a shock that he was texting was that he has a written language learning disability and generally avoids writing like the plague (unless it is on his laptop, where he writes quite creatively, albeit not always with great spelling or grammar).

I said "you have always done a great job following the rules with the phone and I don't want to be a hard butt, but we don't have a text messaging package with our phone plan. So every message you send is an additional charge. I'm not saying you CAN'T text message, but I would expect you to pay for a text messaging plan. And you need to realize that I will be able to see all the people you contact on our itemized bill." This was all done in a friendly, non-accusatory way.

He angrily blurted out "well, then there's no text messaging!" and snapped his phone shut. Of course, with him EVERYTHING is angrily blurted as he assuredly has an impulsive rage disorder of some kind. As angrily as he dealt with that phone I am kind of surprised it still works.

I kind of felt like a good "fake mom" at that point. Hey, if he doesn't like me all the time, so be it. I'm not here to be his friend...I'm here to be a (as loving and kind as I can be) parental figure and influence in his life. I figure if a teenager doesn't like you all the time, you just might be doing something right. At least I hope so. ;-)