Teenage Attitude and the Refrigerator Voice

Every parent of a teenager has had to deal with teenage attitude. The attitude may come in varying sizes and various forms but it is immediately recognizable. Most parents consider themselves lucky if they don't land in jail following a bout of teenage attitude.

My teens gave me attitude just like any other kids. Most of the time I could deal with the attitude, passing it off as them just being kids. There were a few times that pushed me beyond my limits.

We joke around now about the "refrigerator voice".

The day was normal. I had just gotten home from the grocery store and my teenage daughter and I were putting away the groceries in the kitchen. To this day, neither of us can really recall the conversation or the words that were said. I think my daughter was informing me of something she was going to do. I believe I was probably reacting in a way that suggested perhaps she should ask permission.

Then, from my 16 year old daughter came that voice. That voice that struck me to my soul, afforded no respect to my authority as a mother and would not be told what to do.

I turned and looked at my daughter and she had the attitude showing on her face. That teenage attitude that makes every parent long for the days of the empty nest and no one glaring at every remark they make.

The combination of the tone of voice and the look on my daughter's face really ticked me off. I grabbed her by the shirt and slammed her into the nearest hard surface - the refrigerator.

"Do I have your attention?"

Apparently since I rarely had ever raised a hand to my kids and not at all in the prior few years, I had gotten my daughter's attention.

She is now almost 25. Through her teen years and occasionally still, she has a habit of pretending to look directly into my face when I am lecturing her. She is humoring me and I know it.

However, I have never heard the "refrigerator voice" again.