Living in a world of adolescents has its ups and downs. Unfortunately, most people talk about the downs: the moods, the occasional surliness, the challenge to authority. Despite tangling with Kat earlier today over I�m not exactly sure what (and that�s what many of our tangles are over), I�m thinking about the ups. How do I love adolescents? Let me count the ways.

First, bright adolescents provide intellectual simulation. I tried to help Kat with a very involved summer assignment for her Modern European History class (which she doesn�t even take until second semester but she has a summer assignment nonetheless. She�s doing it and the other assignment now so she can feel free for the rest of the summer.) When my kids were younger and told me that particular aspects of assignments made no sense, they often were wrong. This time, Kat�s statement was an intellectual challenge to an underlying assumption of the assignment and, after struggling with it myself, I agree with her. Separating out the Age of Exploration from the Renaissance in terms of the changes caused to political, economic, religious, cultural, and social realms is almost impossible. The Age of Exploration and the Renaissance were too simultaneous and too entwined. Nevertheless, we sucked it up and tried to work out something the teacher might accept. It was frustrating, but interesting.

Second, games adolescents play are more challenging. Kat and Day-Hay have started playing a word game that I used to love. One of us will make up a nonsense word such as �bitrillic� and the others will have to provide a �definition.� According to Day-Hay, for example, �bitrillic� is an adjective describing �having a double chin.� According to Kat, �toxible� describes �a character in a play who will be poisoned in the end (e.g. Hamlet). When given �glopopination,� I defined it as �the act of choosing a cleric at midnight under black light.� Silly stuff but lots of fun.

Third, I no longer have to go to movies such as �Dennis the Menace.� I dutifully sat through that movie once upon a time. I believe it lasted at least a month. Nowadays, I get to take children to �My Big Fat Greek Wedding� which I really enjoyed. I suspect that meeting my dad�s family looked to Mr. Philately something like meeting the big Greek family did to the movie fianc� Ian, which only enhanced the entertainment value.

Fourth, they do a credible job of packing for themselves. Day-Hay doesn�t even need a list. She�s off at a Y gymnastics overnight and she got everything ready by herself. I did ask her whether she remember her inhaler and she did.

Finally, for the moment anyway, one can have deep discussions with adolescents about social structures among seventh grade girls, the nature of the universe, God, whistling through one�s nose, and shaving one�s legs, sometimes all in the same conversations. It�s almost like being back in college (for one of the best parts) except that I have my own separate room and I get to make most of the rules most of the time.

I really do like adolescents most of the time. And the rest of the time? Well, I think I�m going to be posting this entry somewhere near at hand to be read in the bad times.

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