What You Didn’t Expect When You Were Expecting (The Missing Chapter on Teens)

Every parent knows there’s no shortage of books to tell you what’s going on when you’re pregnant. The baby and toddler years are also comprehensively covered, with book upon book giving you advice about their current age and stage. You can even read ahead to know what the next milestone will be.

Once your kid hits the teenage years, however, this insight sort of stops. Now every day brings a new development that you were definitely not expecting. Here are just a few.

1. Your teenage kid was just picked up by his newly licensed friend. Whose parents bought him a Mustang for his 16th birthday.

2. You find two black bras in the laundry and realizing the bigger one belongs to your daughter.

3. Baby’s First Time Leaving the Lights on and Killing the Car Battery.

4. Your teenage boy smells like a locker room. Even if he’s a musician who can’t catch a football.

5. You let your kid play Fortnite for six hours a day because it’s cheaper than summer camp.

6. The most effective way to tell your kid to come out of her room for dinner is via text.

7. The baby you couldn’t get to sleep is now the teenager you can’t wake up.

8. You ask your kid to explain what certain words in a song mean, and are then horrified when she does.

9. An ear bud or headphones are now permanently attached to your child’s head.

10. You stopped being able to help your kid with math homework in the Second Grade.

11. You flip off another driver on the road, then realize it’s your own kid.

Did we miss any? Tell us your own sweet teenage developments you weren’t expecting!