When my sisters and I were navigating our teens, my mother would say (outside of our hearing) that every 13- and 14-year-old girl should be marooned on a shrinking ice floe. After I had my own 14-year-old girl, I understood what she meant. In the middle of all the angst of my daughter’s 14th year (she’s 23 now) I wrote this poem:
To All Frustrated Parents of Teens
The 14-year-old mindIs a strange, wondrous thing;
No one can account
For the thoughts which it springs.
One moment high fashion
Has it enthralled;
The next, finding rations
Puts flights to all else.
It has not a filter,
At best, one too late;
Arguments it adores
Much too much to forsake.
It wades only in shallows,
Concerns chill it not,
Yet strong loves wells deepen,
As do new, wondering thoughts.
When its parents despair
Through long suffering in vain
That wisdom shall ever
Elude this young brain,
A small touch on their shoulder,
A hug in the mall,
A smile on a cold day,
A kindness, too small
To affect fates of nations,
But which heartens those close,
A keen observation that
Will pierce other's boasts,
Reminds family present
That hope is not lost.
This mind will grow wiser
With the age of its host.
Have you tried writing a teenaged character? What challenges and rewards have you found in doing so?
I write about teenage characters from the perspective of their mother. Love, empathy, and exasperation, and meeting them halfway.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful poem.
ReplyDeleteNo, but I should have material living through the angst of teenaged girls and boys.
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to claim it was 16-year-old boys who should be locked away for a year or so (she raised four girls and four boys.)
ReplyDeleteGetting into the mindset of characters is half the battle when it comes to writing a story.