The Teenage Brain

 

The comic strip Zits started to run in 1997, two years before we officially had a teenager, and we have had this strip taped to our refrigerator since 1999. It is so old that it curls at the edges and I had to hold it down with a couple of manicure-challenged fingers to take this picture.

In it the parents of 16-year-old Jeremy Duncan are reading the paper together.

"This is interesting," Mom comments. "A new study shows that a teenager's brain actually works differently than an adult's."

"Wow, that is something!" Dad responds. "Next thing you know they'll discover water is wet."

At that moment Jeremy enters.

"Mom, Dad, I've decided to buy a unicycle."

Oh, that writer (Jerry Scott) knows his teenagers, and apparently he also knows my 23-year-old. Today the UPS man rang the doorbell. When I brought in the package, Boy#2 was delighted.

"Oh, good! My ukelele is here!"

I am not even kidding.