Taking Back Beast World, Phase 2. Disney/Pixar's Onward comes out Mar 6 with a setting eerily close to BEAST WORLD. It's time to speak out again--in a positive way!
Thanks for having me over, Elizabeth!
High School Hi-jinks & Fessing Up
by Tara Tyler
Did you ever get into trouble when you were a teen? Yeah, you did!
Nice first line, eh? Now that I have your attention, this is what I mean... Teenagers' brains are not fully developed, especially the portion with self-control (I've taken a couple of psychology and education courses on it) They act on impulse, doing risky things without considering or caring about the consequences. Many don't want to listen to sage adult advice and experience. They believe bad things won't happen to them--they're invincible!
Thus, high school hi-jinks. But with great dumbness comes greater repercussions. (Forgive me, Stan!)
Just so you understand that I know of which I speak, I have three grown boys and teach high school math--oh so many hilarious teenage stories! Where do you think I get my writing ideas? Not to mention my own flip flops of dumbness, but mine were more in my 20s (my parents had a tight leash on my teen years). And so I will use one of my own dumb examples to share...
As a 20-something, I loved going out with friends to the party place: Buckhead--now a sad, boring business disctrict. One night after dancing into the wee hours, we went to get my car from a valet lot, where of course we knew the valet guy. DUMB #1, probably should've sobered up more--I switched to water an hour before leaving, but yeah.
Our valet friend was super busy, so he just gave us the keys (DUMB on his part). Now, valets park cars super tight, but I didn't think anything of it. I'm a great driver, I can easily get out. As I pulled out, I scraped the car next to me, DUMB #2. Go ahead and eye-roll.
I got scared and fled the scene. DUMB #3. Luckily, my friend convinced me to return and face the consequences. I fessed up like a good dumb girl (btw, Happy Bday, Honest Abe!) Our valet friend really appreciated it, else he would've taken the blame. Though it cost me, I felt better doing the right thing. And more importantly, I kept my friends' trust.
I learned and messed up and learned some more. Unfortunately, for some it takes more than one lesson. As a parent and in teaching, I learned patient repetition and increasing consequences are sometimes necessary. We also have to let teens make some mistakes so they will learn on their own. But don't let them get away with it, they have to OWN their mistakes in the process!
Do you remember any dumb things you did when you were young? Fess up!
Tara Tyler has had a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over the US, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her husband and one boy left in the nest. She has two novel series, Pop Travel (sci-fi detective thrillers) and Beast World (fantasy adventures), plus her UnPrincess novella series where the maidens save themselves. She's a commended blogger, contributed to several anthologies, and to fit in all these projects, she economizes her time, aka the Lazy Housewife—someday she might write a book on that... Make every day an adventure!
How to find:
website: Tara Tyler Talks
twitter: @taratylertalks
facebook: Tara Tyler -
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Instagram: taratylertalks
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| Barney & Betty |
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Catch up with Patricia:
Good for you for going back.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine talked me into doing donuts in some person's yard. I felt bad afterwards and swore never to do it again. (No, I didn't go back - all I left were tire marks.) However, not long afterwards, that friend did donuts in someone's yard and he took out the mailbox - the owner came out and he was busted. had to pay for damages. I just laughed!
funny how karma works out =)
DeleteI was out with a friend and some guys who were knocking down mailboxes with baseball bats. People always did that to my poor, barely-mobile grandma so my friend and I objected and they offered to let us walk home, which we did. Fortunately a couple miles back to town wasn't a big deal for us back in the day. I'd have called my dad for a ride, but we were probably tipsy- it was a Saturday night.
DeleteI don't think I have anything to fess up to. At least nothing comes to mind. Then again, what if I'm missing memories because I got abducted by aliens??? They probably returned me because they realized I wasn't a human, and was, in fact, a squirrel.
ReplyDeleteyou are definitely a squirrelly girl!
DeleteI don't remember doing anything too crazy as a teen. I guess I was pretty boring, lol.
ReplyDeletemy teen years were pretty boring too... but that’s a good thing!
DeleteThe only stupid things I really did were things that embarrassed myself ;) I didn't hurt anyone else, except for falling out with one best friend for no good reason. That's probably my biggest regret from school! That is something adult me would never do, so clearly was the result of being a stupid kid ;)
ReplyDeletethats always a shame. but it happens... and embarrassing ourselves as teens builds character =D
DeleteBeing the war years and being moved to 10 different schools because my dad was posted to different air bases, I only remember one dumb thing. Somehow school released us early and I ended up in a park with some kids from who knows where. My parents didn't know I was on my own out of school. One of the kids took me to Woolworth's ( a dime store) and showed me how to steal things. Eventually I got home somehow and gave them to my mother. My parent's were horrified so my dad took me back to the store with all the stuff in a basket and made me apologise to the woman store manager and hand back the stuff. I was very embarrassed. Don't think I was very old either. It certainly made an impression.
ReplyDeleteWoah, Jo! Lesson learned, right? Or you might’ve turned out to be a “bad girl?” JK
Delete(ps - I remember Woolworths!)
I stole candy as a little kid and my mom made me go in and pay for it. So embarrassing!
DeleteI was a secret wild kid as a teen to rebel against always being a good girl. Someone a few friends and I could get into bars when I was 16. We are so lucky we didn't hurt ourselves or someone else in an accident. Of course, I'd never do that now.
ReplyDeletenice to be able to look back on those days, glad you turned out great!... and we’d never get away with it now with cell phone tracking!
DeleteI look back and wonder just how busy my friend's and my guardian angels were. I wasn't bad, but I did make a lot of dumb decisions.
DeleteI did some dumb things but never got into any real trouble probably because of dumb luck and ignorance.
ReplyDeleteYeah Patricia Josephine, cool blog hop.
as a teen, we tp’d each other’s houses, that’s about it!
Deletenerd then, nerd now — good times!
I will say, I learned early on to maintain the balance in order to stay out of trouble. Grades were always good. My chores were always done. And I tried to keep a low profile on the orneriness.
DeleteThanks for sharing your young, underdeveloped brain moment. Loved it. And no, I'm not sharing mine:)
ReplyDeleteWishing much success to Tara and Patricia.
oh, too shady? haha
Deletethat’s okay - glad you enjoyed =)
If we say too much, our kids could hold it against us, right, Sandra!?
DeleteGood that you went back. I've done some stupid crap I'm sure, but learn and keep on a going indeed.
ReplyDeleteand now i’m dealing with my own teens’ stupidity, i have so many stories! i should write more books! thanks for stopping by
DeleteDumb things as a teenager, no, not really. I was too busy trying to survive. But dumb things as an adult. All the time! I think my life is a sitcom of dumb things.
ReplyDeleteyes, i could make a sitcom on my techno-dumbness alone!
Deletethanks for visiting!
I like to think the little dumb things are what give life its flavor.
DeleteI see a lot of kids in the schools that I imagine are doing their best to survive. Life can be cruel and people can be total jerks.
what a great bunch of alien-avoiding advice, especially the last one, hahaha!
ReplyDeleteand thanks so much for having me!
Always a pleasure to have you!
DeleteI don't remember anything crazy! We never had a chance by our strict parents.
ReplyDeleteMy parents tried to be strict and probably lucky for me that they were. I could have gotten myself into a lot more trouble than I did, but there was always that bit of fear. And somehow, my mom knew nearly everything.
DeleteHi ladies...
ReplyDeleteNothing too dumb for me... smoking Marlbouroughs at age 13... That's about it. I quit after the first pack. Disgusting!
Both of my parents smoked, so of course, I tired it. But we didn't want to get caught, so my friend and I locked ourselves an a small closet to do it and about choked to death.
DeleteI went through a TP phase - and my mom abetted my efforts, as long as my friends and I were going to friends' houses for "pranking" and not actually harassment. It turned out that line was thinner than I realized when I pranked a neighbor and had to clean everything up under the baleful gaze of a very upset mother who explained to me that her family had trash dumped in their yard several times in our racist little city - by the Klan. We really had a Klan in town and I had run into them before - they dumped trash in our yard when I was a smaller kid and some of their kids made my life awful at school. I hadn't realized the neighbors had more run-ins with them and when they saw the TP in their trees, they thought that my "prank" was another outbreak of racism. I fessed up, cleaned up, apologized, and my neighbors forgave me after we had some long conversations. I never, ever TPed anyone's house again.
ReplyDeleteI never did the TP thing.
DeleteSo sad that people harassed your neighbor so much. I grew up in a tiny town that was pretty insulated from things. We didn't even have a red light much less gangs or clansmen.
I count that as a blessing all the time!!! We got to grow up in a time where there wasn't immediate and lasting evidence and I can only imagine the pressure of social media on kids. It's rough on adults with our fully formed brains- imagine what it does to the growing brain.
ReplyDelete<3
ReplyDelete