All about a 15 year old teenage boy. Teen life for a boy and a typical daily schedule and life who was raised on Babywise.
This is a summary for Brayden from 14.75-15 years old.
EAT
Eating is good as usual. He has been hungrier than usual during this time period. We aren’t really snackers at our house. We started the Babywise thing of eating every three hours, then at meals, and have always held to that.
But in the last few months, Brayden has needed an afternoon snack and a late evening snack.
He is definitely growing a lot and has gotten taller, so he is in a growth spurt and needing more food. Him having these snacks is not concerning to me. He makes healthy choices and eats regularly at meals, so his snacks are not interfering at all with him eating a nutritious meal.
SLEEPING
Sleeping is good. He commented to me recently that it is frustrating because he doesn’t always feel tired at bedtime. I explained that this is quite normal in the teenage years and that the teenage brain and melatonin change.
Scientists have known for a long time now that a person’s biological clock shifts forward in adolescence. Instead of feeling drowsy in the evening, teenagers actually tend to become more alert and have a difficult time settling in to sleep (likely because melatonin, which causes sleepiness, is secreted later). In the morning, when people of other ages are awake and primed for the day, teenagers still have elevated melatonin levels and often feel groggy as a result. Many teens also feel drowsy in the middle of the day, regardless of their sleep habits.
sleepfoundation.org
He doesn’t love that–he is a morning person and prefers to get up and get going. But I think it is helpful to understand that it is biological and it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you.
SCHOOL
Almost this entire time was spent in quarantine.
Brayden actually really enjoyed having distance learning. While there are things he missed, he loved being able to get done with school in 1.5-2 hours almost every day.
He has always struggled with feeling like he is wasting a lot of time at school at the end of the year. After testing is done and there is more fun, he feels like it is a waste.
I don’t agree with him. I think the social time is valuable, but I do understand where he is coming from. He really enjoyed being able to get his stuff done for school and then move on to other things.
ACTIVITIES
For obvious reasons, his activities were mostly all stopped during this time. Here are some exceptions:
- Piano: piano continued on over FaceTime. This has been great. We have been really glad this could continue. We will stay over FaceTime for quite a while. I would bet even through the summer if not further.
- Swim Team: Swim team was closed most of the time. Things started to open up at the end of this and he was able to do swim team twice a week rather than 5 days. They had to cut it down to fit the kids all in practice and keep numbers down. It was also one hour rather than two.
EMOTIONS
A common difficulty with teenagers is their emotions. Teenagers can be moody and that can be frustrating for parents.
Brayden hasn’t really been moody to this point of teen life. Friends of mine who have had teen girls and teen boys say that teen girls are much more emotional than teen boys.
So I wanted to put that out there. Your teen might be super moody/emotional. If so, that is a normal thing and isn’t something to take personally.
But just like we didn’t allow backtalk and sass with the preschooler years, we don’t allow outbursts, disrespect, unkindness, sass, etc. with teens.
SCHEDULE
Our schedule has been a block schedule during the quarantine. We have really enjoyed that. Something I love about a block schedule is the child has a guide but also has a measure of personal responsibility. It lists the things they need to do, but they can decide exactly when and for how long.
Here is what it looks like:
