>The Incredible Wisdom of Teenagers
>”You know how 16-year-olds can’t drive past 11pm in Tennessee?” my 16-year-old asked me.
“Yeah.”
“Well, Josh read the law and if you’ve been hunting or fishing, it doesn’t apply. So he just drives around now with a fishing pole in his trunk.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” I said slowly.
“It’s true though,” 16 said knowledgeably. “He read the law.”
I started laughing. “I’m pretty sure that’s nonsense,” I said. “I would bet money that the fishing pole in the trunk trick wouldn’t work.”
16 shook her head at my woeful ignorance. “He read the law,” she repeated.
Last week when 16 got her license, I read the law. It was true that a 16-year-old could be out driving past curfew if he’d been hunting or fishing, but he had to be returning from a trip between the hours of 4 and 6 am and he had to have a note from his parents. I explained the whole thing to 16 later.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding vigorously. “See? I told you.”
“But it makes no sense,” I said. “Why would he want to drive between 4 and 6 am?”
“He’d be coming back from like, a party,” she said in her best duh tone.
With a note from his parents. And a cooler full of fish in the backseat. Oookay. As I stood with my brow furrowed, she gave me a satisfied smirk and walked away. End of discussion.
How did she win that one???
>If she’s gotta drive the Buick, I say let her “win” this one.
>Because she is smart! 😉 I might have tried that myself at 16…I was shocked to find all these laws in NC about seatbelts/carseats for kids EXCEPT in the case of a pickup truck….you can pile as many kids in the back of one of these as possible…no restraints necessary! Scary, I tell you, scary…
>Because she is 16 and you are old. She needs to trade hints with my teenager… or perhaps not. We’d be in real trouble then.
>Oldest insisted that you get 3 tries to parallel park here in PA when you go for your road test. I told him time and time again, that most likely would NOT be the case. Alas I am a mom and therefore stupid. He failed his first road test because he couldn’t park ON THE FIRST TRY. It felt soo good.
>That’s what MN is like, too. Hunting and fishing get you out of everything. In Wisconsin (where I was born), you can drink with your kids (in the bar!) until they are 18. But then they can’t drink until they are 21. Some people have quite the aptitude for legal issues when it comes to getting themselves out of trouble. Do his parents actually write him a note??
>Holy crap, I just clicked on your profile for the first time ever. I had no idea you had so many blogs. You can write AND cook? Now I’m jealous.
>Perhaps you guys should start applying for law school now. I think she has a lot of potential…
>His parents would NEVER write him a note, nor would a cop believe he’d been on a fishing trip, nor is a party for 16-year-olds likely to rage on until 4 or 6 in the morning- trust me. I speak from experience. I just wasn’t up for a 30 minute argument on the topic.
>like, duh.
>*puts fishing pole in trunk in case I get stopped for speeding* Hey, it could work.
>Everybody’s a lawyer, until they find out it just isn’t so. In Maryland they can break curfew if they are on their way to or from work or school.Which is good, because some band outings don’t get over until 12:30.
>LOL!!! Let her think she won… And when she asks for a note…You win.xoLBC
>Pah. A 16 will win every argument – in her own mind, at least.
>She didn’t win the argument. She just refuses to admit it.m
>Teenagers are evil. How do I know? I was one, of course!
>teens have a way of making you just want to get past the argument!as do preteens!
>Oh man, the teenage years are going to be the death of me. Thank God I have at least another decade!
>you can’t even argue with us teenagers, we are so much smarter than you guys you have no idea!!!