If you’re going through hell with your teenage kids, keep going

I stole and adjusted the quote from Winston Churchill (not verified — I think he said that).

Three years ago, my second son — who was almost thirteen at the time — entered a tough stretch. He got addicted to a silly game on his phone — Brawl Stars. He didn’t think it was silly. He played it day and night. It was an addiction. He got so good at it that, apparently, he became one of the top players in the US. We were worried a lot about his screen time, but restricting it is never an easy task in our family. The kids start pointing at each other’s faults and accuse us of favoritism. Unlike my wife, I’m also against confiscating the kids’ devices as a way of punishing them, but that’s a different topic… Besides, the pandemic — school closures and lack of activities — are making things difficult for everyone, kids and adults alike. What complicated things further is that my son was also going through a sports injury that derailed his activities, regardless of the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Of course, we still took measures and tried to place some restrictions. But it was never a solution. It was always a temporary fix. It got so bad that we were thinking — he’ll be twenty five and he’ll still be a child; still playing this game, or maybe some other game.

And it wasn’t just about how he was addicted to Brawl Stars. It was just a difficult period. Our oldest son — he’s two years older — was very difficult too. Always confrontational, disruptive, and…