I have two wanderers, although my seventeen year old is fast approaching the warrior stage (which is a welcome change from the wanderer phase).

I truly believe this is the most difficult phase of parenting I have experienced.  I almost cried when reading this chapter because I realized that my kids are normal.  That they have not been invaded by aliens or replaced by three headed demons, they are just going through a cocktail of hormones combined with an underdeveloped sense of self control and forecasting of consequences.

Other people's kids also say that list of things I have had verbally thrown at me on page 69.  I have often said that right around their 13th birthday my boys have encountered the Invasion of the Body Snatchers and then the book uses that same phrase- I am not crazy- woo hoo!

I appreciated the section on sexuality and underlined the sentence that saddened me the most "the reality is that Western culture offers the most sexual stimulation to youth with the least amount of teaching"...that is unacceptable!

And oh honey, the argumentative nature of wanderers...I promise you, even if you are trying to give the boy his way he will still argue with you- it does become comical after a while.

A mama of boys this age needs a thick skin and a soft heart.