10.10.2004

My dad has not got a freaking clue. In general, I've kind of skipped over the teenage angst stage, but I didn't seem to be able to avoid the frustration at your parents part. He doesn't listen to what I say, he analyzes what he does hear, he complains about me and what I do constantly, and then he wonders why I never tell him anything. For example, we were eating dinner. I finished and went to take care of my dishes. I've never been known for being a neat eater, and I accidentally left some food on the table. He references a joke that he's used for years, probably since I was born, about that round thing called a plate. I play along, kind of hah hah, and continue taking care of my dishes. I go sit down in the living room and pick up my book. He starts yelling at me for 1) not picking up my mess and 2) leaving the table before my mom was done eating. I go take care of my mess (and I would have done it in the first place if I'd thought he was serious when I was leaving the table) , and continue back to the living room, because who would want to go and make polite chit chat with someone who'd just yelled at them? But then he starts absolutely freaking about and telling me I'm being "unspeakably rude". From my perspective, I was doing them a favor and being polite. I'd just been yelled at, and I most certainly wasn't in the mood to talk to them. If it were just my mom, I might have gone and talked to her, but I didn't really want to speak with my dad right then, and can you blame me? He was absolutely furious with me, and so far as I could tell, I hadn't really done anything. It's so frustrating when parents just do weird crazy things for no good reason that I can see. And the crazy thing was, I went and explained all of this to my mom, showing clear logic and telling how I feel, not knowing my dad was in the other room. He comes out after hearing the entire thing from my point of view and says, obviously even angrier, something about how I didn't understand how incredibly rude I had been by not sitting with my mother after she'd cooked for me. He said I should have just ignored him and sat with her. Umm, our table's not that big. I would have sat with her if HE hadn't been there, and I generally get along with my mom far better than my dad, but he said that I was being "unspeakably rude" again. I just wish he knew how to listen, and not just listen, but understand.