You might have a teenager if...

How can you tell your children are officially teens (other than, you know, knowing how old they are)? Here are 11 signs to watch out for.

Note: Any resemblance to actual, specific teens is purely coincidental. 

You might have a teenager if... your daughter thinks that a tight, low-cut shirt, a mini skirt, and Uggs are the perfect winter outfit; and your son insists on wearing a t-shirt and shorts to school if it's over 32 degrees out.

You might have a teenager if... you have never heard of the bands or singers your child listens to.

You might have a teenager if... you start to wonder if those ear buds were surgically implanted in your child's ears.

You might have a teenager if... your child cannot go 30 seconds without looking at his or her smart phone.



You might have a teenager if... your child can type way faster than you on his/her smart phone -- and offers to teach you how to use your smart phone.

You might have a teenager if... she says she was "talking" with her friends when she was actually texting or Facebook messaging or Snapchatting with them.

You might have a teenager if... you know what Snapchat is.

You might have a teenager if... when you ask your child a question, make a request, or offer advice (or, okay, just speak), she rolls her eyes.

You might have a teenager if... when you ask your child to do something, she cuts you off with a "Yes, mom," like you are the most annoying person on the planet.

You might have a teenager if... your child thinks you are the most annoying person on the planet.

You might have a teenager if... they think you can't possibly understand whatever it is they are going through.

Everything I know about high school I learned from glee

For those of you who think the popular Fox show glee is purely a work of fiction (like I did, until this afternoon), guess again.

I don't know what I was expecting when I walked into my daughter's high school earlier today, my first day as a volunteer in the high school library. Probably the same thing I experienced when I volunteered at her middle school.* Yes, I am that naive.

Looking around, I felt I was in a frickin' episode of glee, complete with cheerleaders IN UNIFORM in the middle of the day. (My daughter's high school even has similar initials to the one on glee.) There were the jocks in one section, some pimply faced boys in another, a group of token outcasts/rebels, and a smattering of pretty, quiet studious girls and nice-looking studious boys. I seriously kept waiting for everyone to break out into song -- with a pre-choreographed dance routine.


I'm just relieved no one slammed me into a locker or threw a slushy at me.

*I attended a small, private, low-key (at least back in the day) all-girls high school in New York City -- with no football team or cheerleaders, though apparently a handful (or two) of Gossip Girls.