It’s not that I hated how I looked, really. It’s just that after a while, it was hard to be judged, and not start co-signing the judgments. Maybe my skin was a little too dark. My hair a little too kinky. My affinity for books and dolls and sewing a little too nerdy. My butt and hips a little too big for a kid my age.

I wasn’t perfect.

Plenty of folks -- mostly adults -- stood at the ready to remind me of this. Picking on kids and their flaws was, like, a thing for the grown-ups in my life. Adult cousins thought nothing of saying I shouldn’t play in the sun because I was “dark enough as it is”; my mom’s grown friends often clucked that the chlorine from the pool would make my hair “even nappier.” One woman, the mother of my best friend, made a point of telling me every time she saw me that I was “getting fat.”

My talk with my mom about menstruation went something like this:

Me: “Mommy? We learned about periods in health class today. The teacher said we should get this kit. It comes with books and pads and stuff.”

My mom: “Okay.”

Uh, huh. That was the end of the conversation. She ordered the kit for me -- it came with three books about puberty and an assortment of pads and tampons -- and when it arrived, she handed it to me and we never talked about periods again.

10. One of them asks for your car keys and tells you he will drive. And? It is not only legal but he is good at it. Not to mention the fact that he begins telling you about the “rules of the road” when you are driving. When did this young child suddenly know more “rules” about driving than you?

9. When you get a new electronic gizmo or gadget you find yourself handing it to them and asking them to load it up the best applications and features. They know more about technology than you do even when you think you are tech-savvy. (But at least I don’t have a VCR that blinks 12:00 all the time!)

8. You no longer are in charge of carefully scheduling and planning each meal they eat. They actually go to the grocery store with you to pick out their favorite foods. And? They know how to fix it themselves. (That is a glorious moment, my friends!) Let’s not even talk about the fact they begin to eat you out of house and home before you realize it!

I am the youngest of three children. Growing up I thought this was some diabolical plan hatched by my parents to punish me. I was convinced everything was just so unfair! My brother and sister had more freedom. They had later curfews. They were able to do things I could not. It was not until I became an older teenager that I realized that it was indeed unfair but the level of “fair” actually worked in my favor, not theirs.

I can see it happening with my oldest son. That poor oldest child is somewhat of a test model from day one. We, the parents, are thrown into on-the-job training immediately. There are times that I worry about the mistakes we make with him and how we will be able to correct many of them by the time my second son gets older and even more so as my young daughter grows up.

If you know anything about Facebook, you have probably seen or been tagged for the hottest trend: 25 Random Things About Me. I thought I would share with you 10 Random Things About Teenagers that you may not know, seeing as many of you are not yet in the teen phase.