BATTLE ON MAJORCA DRIVE

Nick has been growing his hair for about 9 months now. He is going for the “surfer look”. I am not really fond of his hair but agreed to let him grow it as long as his attitude didn’t change and he continued to get good grades. He has kept his grades up but the last month his attitude has been, well, an attitude. He has been mouthy and cocky, two things that really piss me off. I have kinda let it slide because he just takes sooo much energy to deal with. Over the weekend I decided that I had better get it all in check before it got out of hand.
We went clothes shopping on Monday after work. Now that he is a full fledged, hormonal teen, he is not fun to shop with (unless it is for something he really wants). He didn’t want to try any of the shorts on, nothing looked right, blah blah blah. He spied a belt buckle with a canteen on it (that’s what he called it. Give me a break, it was a small flask) and went moony over it. I said, “no you may not have the flask belt buckle”. He protested, “Mom, it’s a canteen!”. I suggested I drop him off in the desert and see how long he survived with his canteen. Anyway, he didn’t like that answer and wanted to know exactly why, and reminded me several times that “because I said so” is not an answer. I hate back talk and especially in public places. (I don’t holler at my kids in public places, I save that for home) I suggested we take ourselves out to the car, not to discuss the buckle, but to check his attitude. He thought otherwise, maybe I was going to change my mind (or let him talk me into it). He told me he could put energy drinks in the canteen (ha, I don’t even let him drink energy drinks and the flask only hold a couple of ounces). He continued to try and work his magic on me even though I told him to stop. I ended up grounding him and we had dinner in silence (poor Devon had to listen to us all night). He pouted the rest of the evening and made sly comments all night that related to the stupid belt buckle.
Tuesday he was fine until right before dinner when he asked “Do you think I could have that belt buckle for Graduation?” I couldn’t believe my ears (really, I could, I am just being dramatic). Round two, ding-ding! I can’t believe that I actually argued with him! We went round and round for about 10 minutes and I then I called the fight- on the fact that dinner was burning. He did this cocky little salute and said, “Yes maaaaam!” as he walked away. I flipped! I calmly looked at him and said “Get your clothes on and meet me in the car”.
I could tell by the look on his face he was puzzled and a little worried. He barely had the door shut when I started rolling. “Mom, where are we going?” he asks all innocently. “To have your hair cut!” I say. Floodgates open: He begins crying like a heartbroken teenage girl. By the time we drive out front gate, he was hysterical. He promised to never talk back or be disrespectful again, in his whole life! He promised me his Ipod, his surfboard and his skim board. I calmly tell him that I had warned him many times over the last month that his hair was going to go if his attitude didn’t. I was afraid for a moment that he wouldn’t get out of the car and he is now bigger than me. We sat in front of Supercuts for 10 minutes while he sobbed. I caved a little and told him if he would “get it together” I would only have them cut 2 inches off. I said if he didn’t “get it together” I would ask them to shave his head. Mean, huh?! Finally he got out and went inside. He sniffed the whole time she cut his hair. You would have thought I asked the girl to remove his whole head. He looks fine, actually much better. Now if he would just comb it. He was an angel the rest of the night. I am crossing my fingers that this will be the end of the attitude for a while. What are the chances? He is 141/2, I am trying to be realistic.