Probably somewhere around their child's age of four or so, most parents have long tired of the phrase, "It's just not fair!" I was mistakenly told it was just a phase that children go through and I believed it, figuring the end was soon in sight. Alex is now 14 and I see no retirement any time soon of said phrase. Case in point: "Can I go walk around town for a few hours with my friends from school?" After a few questions, such as "Where exactly, which friends, and what time frame are we discussing here?" I was hit with "Mom, you are so unreasonable. This is just so unfair that all the kids can do this except for me. Just say 'yes' and don't think so much. You can trust me." (Ah, this is where it starts with guys saying "You can trust me." I have never been a big subscriber to that one at any point in my life.) We talked it over a bit, my use of calmness and logic impressing even myself, when out of the blue he shouts, "Oh, grownups are all the same! You never have to do anything you don't want to do and life is always fair for you because you get to control it all!" I never have to do anything I don't want to do??? No one ever told me that, I have been operating for my entire life without this knowledge! Imagine my surprise! Life is never unfair for adults? Wow...likewise, I had no grasp on this bit of information either (and just this morning I had two or three takes on the "life is just not fair" routine as I moved about my daily routine). I shared with Alex that it was time to wise up and learn that adults had the same issues, they just did not (for the most part) go around shouting about the unfairness of it all at the top of their voices. He turned to me and said, "Mom, don't even try to use all that logic stuff on me. It won't work." And why, I ask myself, would I even waste my time trying to reason with a 14 year old whose appreciation of such is pretty much nil these days? You know, it's just not fair!