Ughhh, moms with teens, you are amazing. I have a 16 year old cousin who my mom decided to have for a couple days at her house. Apparently shes not allowed to talk to this boy and got her phone taken away. DH and I were invited to a get together tonight and were going to pop by. She wanted to come so we took her and she immediately asked for my phone. I said that her mom said she's not allowed and she said her mom just said it was ok and I could call her if I'd like. I figured she was telling the truth so I trusted her and gave her my phone. My mom called a little while later on DH's phone and asked what my cousin was doing. I told her and she informed me that she specifically was not allowed to use the phone. I took it away from her and she tried to delete the texts but she couldn't. I took her back to my moms and went home. My mom just called me at 11:30pm to say shes taking my cousin home. Her moms mad at her, and my cousin called me a b*tch! I know it might have been mean to take my phone, but she lied straight to my face and manipulated me to get what she wanted. I seriously pray that Erica isn't like that when she is a teen.

I kind of dread the teenage stage. Still have a number of years to go with my three, however, my stepkids are on the verge of the teen years.

However, I've already seen manipulation from my stepkids and I can see that it's not going to get any better any time soon.