Teenage boys are not the most diligent people. Generally speaking, they tend to be forgetful, and are easily distracted. As you son is preparing to spend the night with a friend, he may overlook many things. Luckily, he has mindful parents that provide patient reminders.
How unbelievable is it that he has forgotten things like he toothbrush, sleepwear, and even a fresh change of underwear for the next day. How comfortable can he possibly be sleeping in his clothes! You go ahead and pack those for him. In the process you point out that his morning breath is awful and may frighten his buddies.
How could he possibly think about something as silly as pajamas? He has his takamine acoustic guitar to tune and pay attention to. They do not plan on sleeping anyway. They will be up all night practicing and writing songs and you are worrying for nothing, he tells you. You stop to pity the other boy’s parents for a moment, and then quickly offer to speed up the packing process for him.
Be considerate and send soda pop with him. It is amazing how much a small group of teenage boys can consume in a single night. The burden of providing it all should not just fall on one family, but should be shared. Sending along the pop, and possibly even a bag of chips, can be one of the kindest things you can do.
He and his friends plan to stay up all night. They are bound to get hungry at odd hours. It is wise to send along an extra ten dollars so that he is able to chip in for midnight pizza delivery if need be. Remember to stress the importance of tipping the delivery driver. To really make the point you can point out to him that it may not be long before he is looking for a part-time job himself, and delivering pizzas is not out of the question.
What could a group of teenage boys want with women’s brown boots? You are not sure but you just found some that he had added to the small overnight bag. After some careful deliberation, you decide that you do not really want know what the boots are for.
Of course all of this is after you have covered the basics. Please remember to make sure you know where he will be, who he will be with, and if there are parents supervising them. You might annoy him with the questions, but later on he will thank you.
Tags: packing, sleepovers, teen