Thea - The Juvenile Delinquent

Man, that sounds so 1950's. But it is true. I was quite the shithead of a teenager.

I'm not even sure where I should begin this story actually.
In a daily setting today, I look like any suburban mom (younger and more stylish than average of course). I go to my children's school functions, chit chat with my neighbors and kids' parents when I run into them in my idyllic town.  I think I am pretty normal. My kids have been pretty normal so far too.

I did walk a long road to get here.
I was raised by my father who was on the older side from when I was 9 on up. I did have a few stepmothers, so my home life was pretty strange at times with those ladies. At one point my niece who is only 4 years younger than me lived with my dad & I. So I got to experience what it was like to be an older sibling in away. Did I mention that I am the baby of 6 or 3 depending on which parent we're discussing. I'm not sure if that is applicable to this post but I know many live by the birth order train of thought so there it is.

Thea, her cousin & two friends 1994

With a crazy home life any kid starts to bond with their friends who had similar situations at their homes. Granted I was born and raised in a military town on an island with not a whole lot to do so I'm sure that added fuel to my troublemaking fire.  But I had and still have some close friends who were little shits too.

Without going into much detail I was in juvenile detention a couple times, forced to go to anger management classes, expelled from school and had many hours of community service work for various punishments. I deserved all my punishments if not more.  

I wanted to put this out there because I feel that it is important to know that I have a history of not being perfect. When I publish advice on teenagers I feel as if I am relating to myself who was a handful as a teen and also relating to my own teenagers today. I have been living a trial and error life.

On all the mom blogs out there I can't say that I've read anything where a mom openly admits being a juvenile delinquent. No perfect picture painting here, I'm honest about who I was and am today. 

So far that's working out for me and my kids. As you can imagine it takes a lot to pull some shit past me. 

So there it is, judge me or commiserate. I know I wasn't the only bad kid out there :)

Thea