Do you have a war story about your teen?

I’ve got two children—one now safely through middle school and starting high school. All along, people have been warning us about when they became teens—how difficult that would be. I’m wondering what’s the fuss?

My daughter had a birthday party with her whole class who had been invited to the pool we go to. The pool heard that we wanted 30 fourteen-year-olds to be there all at once and they nearly shit themselves.

We promised all kinds of chaperones and whatever they wanted us to do and held the party. We had no problems whatsoever. In fact, the regular members’ kids behaved much worse than my daughter’s guests. Those kids were great! Well-behaved. No drugs or alcohol. No bottles. Just fun.

So where do all these warnings come from? What have your teens done? And if you aren’t willing to fess up, what have other teens you know done?