Teenagers, when does the hormone fog lift?

[Mango]

Oh my, I am ready to pull out my hair.

[Sandsam]

I wish I had an answer for you. I have a 15 yr old - she makes family life very unpleasant most days. She constantly threatens to move out - I'm willing to help her pack.

 

I have heard girls start to re-join the human race around age 22-25, some even as young as 20.

 

I'll be watching this post for more opinions!

[Cricket]

I've only had boys go through this so far. At 15 my oldest is pretty good, but he was always pretty easy going. It was a little bumpy from 11-14. My second boy is starting it now. No one warns you that boys can get hormonal too! I'm really dreading my oldest dd's teen years. She's only 9 but I'm starting to see some signs. We are definitely working on a few character things now that will hopefully help down the road. I'm tired already!

[Kari C in SC]

With my boy, 11 to 14 was not a whole lot of fun. Each year after that got better and better. By the time he was 18, we were best friends.

 

With my girl, she has been much easier to get along with, but pms... Whoah... Watch out. She will be 15 in October and I think we have faired well. She does struggle with a certain amount of depression, but it is unclear if that is teenage hormones or very real grief for her brother.

[fairfarmhand]

hey...I just hope that someday we can all sit down together three times a year for dinner (Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas) without emotional outbursts.

 

It's been tough going here for about 5 years and no end in sight.

[DianeW88]

In my experience, around sixteen.

[texasmama]

I've only had boys go through this so far. At 15 my oldest is pretty good, but he was always pretty easy going. It was a little bumpy from 11-14. My second boy is starting it now. No one warns you that boys can get hormonal too!

My almost 13 year old boy, who is generally pretty even-tempered, is beginning to get weepy and not know why and is also reporting being angry and wanting to hit something. Yikes. Thus far, he just expresses his thoughts and feelings and I offer support and normalization, but like you, I was not prepared for his transition through puberty to be similar to my almost 18 year old dd's. Naïve, I was!

[Anne in CA]

You picked a bad day to ask this question. DD, 13, has become a real "loser". In a hormone induced fog she has begun losing everything. Her cell phone has been left somewhere four times in the last week. She lost her ticket to the zoo last week. Last night she "lost" her purse at Fred Meyer, although she does realize that it was probably stolen. I know I am forgetting things. Both of the older dc lost things around this age too, but nothing all close together like this.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin had one year when he could barely speak for irritation. I think it was age 13-14. He became pretty human after that. Hobbes has his moments, but hasn't hit anything really difficult yet.

 

L

[KungFuPanda]

In my experience, around sixteen.

 

This was my experience as well. From chatting with friends, The Tunnel is generally ages 13-15. They come out at 16 still teenagers, but with much less of a hair trigger on their emotions.

[Luanne]

My daughter was a pretty easy child, but got difficult about ages 13-14. She woke up the morning of her 15th birthday (seriously) and apologized for being so obnoxious those two years. She had moments after that, but nothing like 13-14.

[JumpyTheFrog]

And for those of you who had kids that were already easily irritable or explosive, did they get worse? Or did they stay about the same and you were already used to it? We are slowly figuring out the triggers for one of ours and I'm really hoping that he doesn't regress, or get even worse, as a teenager.

 

Give me some hope! Tell me that some kids "use up" their irritable years before becoming teens.

[fairfarmhand]

And for those of you who had kids that were already easily irritable or explosive, did they get worse? Or did they stay about the same and you were already used to it? We are slowly figuring out the triggers for one of ours and I'm really hoping that he doesn't regress, or get even worse, as a teenager.

 

Give me some hope! Tell me that some kids "use up" their irritable years before becoming teens.

sigh.

 

 

I wish.

 

My dd has been "challenging" since she was like 18 months old. Since about age 11 the crankiness , irritability, arguments, and just lousy attitude just intensified.

 

 

Add to that an extremely self-centered focus and it makes me want to move away. I give great thanks for the days when she stays at friends' homes (who have NEVER seen this side of her) and when she's off at camp or other activities.