My Wife Hates That I Can Tune Our Son Out

Need one of these for our car!

My son is a teenager (15, now), and, boy can he pitch a fit! I don't remember being like that when I was his age, but I'm guessing it's perfectly normal. He uses it as a tactic to get his way.

In fact, whenever he begins one of these sessions, my reaction is to tune it out. He's crying & stomping about the house in order to get his way. Sure, it can get annoying, but if you ignore it long enough, he'll eventually give up. Not so with my wife.

Our son has perfected his craft in regards to his mother over the years. He knows exactly which buttons to push to annoy her. Once he does it enough, she'll eventually give in. He uses such charming lines as:

• “Mom! Can't I stay up just 1 more hour? Please... please... please... please...”
• “No! You guys never let me have any fun!”
• “Mom! My friend gets to do it, why can't I?”
• “That stuff's old, and old stuff sucks! I don't wanna watch that!”

And need these around the house!

There's much, much more, but you get the gist of it. My wife gives in, eventually, because our son knows just how much he can annoy her before she boils over. Which usually results in her getting upset with me for being able to tune him out.

Like I said, it's probably perfectly normal, teenage behavior. Therefore, just ignore it. Let him run himself down, and, when he gets tired, he'll quit.

…

But what do I know?