These past two weeks have been a testament to my patience and my ability as a teacher. Even during the weekends, I hadn’t been able to get a real moment to breathe. Even as I type this blog, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. I mean…I knew I was going to have to deal with teenage rebellion at some point and I thought I was really for it. Oh, boy, I was so wrong.
Like any other teenager, I went through my own phase of teenage rebellion. I was a nightmare for my grandmother and thank God for her patience. For the record, I wasn’t a bad kid; I just a lot of pain from my father’s death and really smart mouth. I mean I was a terrifying smartarse who didn’t care about feelings when someone tried to bully me. I also wouldn’t let anybody make me feel less than and I was always…angry. I managed to pull myself out of it and became a better person, but it’s something when looking back. So, I figured that I would help them through theirs. Seems easy, right? Absolutely not.
I was grossly underprepared for it all. I was dealing with Chinese teenagers who wanted to feel like adults with actual freedom. Worse yet, the Chinese staff wouldn’t let them. They were trying to “keep them in line” which was only making it worse for everybody. Then, when I tried to get things back to normal, I had to deal with more opposition from the Chinese staff which led to more rebellion from my students. And I do mean a lot of rebellion. Enough rebellion that I had to turn strict on them…which also didn’t help too much. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Turn. Turn. Turn.
This is exactly what it was like for me and almost every other teenager. I tried to get some semblance of freedom/independence only for someone to take it away from me under the guise of “keeping me in my place”. And, like clockwise, I would lash out in retaliation only to be punished for lashing out which made me last out more. Yeah? Again, it’s like looking into the mirror of the past. I need to call my grandma. She raised four kids and a host of grandkids, including myself; maybe she can give me some pointers.
Please don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads) on my web page’s right side. Also, I love hearing suggestions of what books to read outside of my norm (Science fiction and Fantasy) as I am a part of the Goodreads’ reading challenge for 2023. I aim to read 200 books this year and am currently 187. The Outlander will have to wait until November or so because it is beyond long. Besides, it’s October; it’s meant for ghost stories.
