teens | Asha Rajan

Not Drowning, Waving

Posted on October 25, 2017 4 Comments

“It’s going swimmingly,” she said while catching the lifejacket and wrangling two teens.

A Day In the Life Of: Parenting Depression

Posted on March 17, 2017 2 Comments

CONTENT NOTE: Discussion of depression ahead. If you recognise yourself or someone you love in anything in this post, please reach out to mental health services in your area. Some non-emergency services listed at the end. The Greeting. “Hey! How was school?” “Shit. As always.” Breathe. It might just be a flippant “shit” this time. […]

On 17th birthdays and glimpses of the adult

Posted on August 17, 2016 6 Comments

So, here I am very early on Godzilla’s 17th birthday, resting on the corner of Testosterone Lane and Horsepower Road. Having two teen boys in the house means a lot of muscle flexing, boundary pushing, and territory marking. They wake with teasing exchanges that rapidly morph into the rat-tat-tat of suddenly flared tempers. And before long, like […]

The things I was never going to do…

Posted on October 7, 2015 20 Comments

When I was in my teens, I knew I never wanted to be a teacher. My father was a teacher, many of my uncles were teachers, my cousins were teachers, there were teachers everywhere I looked. I knew with the certainty of teenagehood that the last profession on Earth I would ever enter would be […]

Life in the Quiet Moments

Posted on February 25, 2015 9 Comments

What do you do when your 15 year old son comes to you with a problem you can’t solve? What do I do? I do mental backflips. As a mother, I’m always quietly (or sometimes not so quietly) delighted when my teenaged sons decide to confide their deepest thoughts, troubles, and the issues they’re currently wrestling […]

Rare Treasures

Posted on January 7, 2015 10 Comments

Parenting teenaged boys is very like parenting toddlers. Or being trapped in a hall of mirrors. Neither adult, nor child, but both at once, they leap between fiery extremes, singeing me and leaving them confused. Mornings are crammed with distractions and moving at glacial pace, while evenings are a tussle into bed, bathing-optional, clothes, the […]

Her Honest Life: You’re Lucky If They Act Out

Posted on August 5, 2014

This post from the extraordinary Ijeoma Oluo deals with her personal experience of nearly losing her beautiful, clever, loving, sensitive son. This is a story we all need to read.