Everybody assumes that having divorced parents is a negative thing, but if your parents are divorced, you know it's not at all a bad thing. Sure, it has its ups and downs, but hey, what doesn't? When your parents get divorced there are certain things that nobody ever tells you that you just have to figure out for yourself.
Here are 9 things that nobody talks about that all teens with divorced parents know all too well.
"Hey! Where are you?" "I'm at home." "Which one?"
GiphyI've had this exact conversation more times than I can count, and if you don't have this conversation, there's a 50% chance your friends will go to the wrong house to pick you up, which has also happened to me more times than I can count.
"Oh, shoot, I left my _____ at mom's/dad's house."
GiphyI'm very forgetful so I'm constantly forgetting things at my other parent's house, and 9 times out of 10, its something that I really needed, leaving me with no option other than to make that parent bring it to me.
Major holidays are a fiasco.
GiphyIf you're like me, you alternate which parent you spend Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with every year, so one year you spend them with your mom and the next with your dad. If you're asking "But what about Christmas?" well, Christmas is for EVERYBODY. You start your day off with whoever you spent Christmas Eve with, end up at your other parent's house for lunch and spend most of the day with them, then you may even go back to your other parent's house for dinner. Who knows. All you know is that the holidays are a super confusing time with a very tight schedule.
You're an expert packer.
GiphyYou can get a week's worth of stuff packed in less than ten minutes, easy.
You make plans based off of which parent you'll be with.
GiphyMy parents live in two different towns, so every time I make plans, I check my calendar to see what week I'm at what parent's house, and make sure that I'm at the house that's closest to wherever I'm making plans to go. Which brings me to my next point...
You're a pro at planning.
GiphyYou have two families' schedules to keep up with, so you can make sure that you can spend time with both of them. Not to mention you keep up with your friends' schedules so you can spend time with them without cutting into too much family time. Oh, and you have things you have to do too, so you pretty much plan everything down to the minute.
You have at least two of all your essentials, but somehow they both end up at the same house.
GiphyDon't ask me how this happens because I have no idea. All I know is that it happens all the time, and to solve the problem you get another of whatever you left at the other house to replace it, but that ends up at the wrong house too, and this cycle pretty much never ends. So, yeah, I have four brushes at my dad's house and none at my moms right now, but oh well.
You convince your parents to buy you things by telling them "It's only half as much because you two can split it evenly!"
GiphyAdmit it, all teens with divorced parents do this. So your parents split the cost of concert tickets, clothes, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
Two families means twice the love!
GiphyI know this is super corny, but it's true! The idea of your parents getting remarried might not sound so great at first, but after awhile you'll realize that having step parents and step siblings means having more people to love and more people to love you!