So this week, my eldest son’s chores have included assembling a bookshelf from Ikea (a true test of manhood), raking and bagging part of the yard, and mowing at the neighbor’s. I admit to a small degree of happiness when he asked, “Mom, where’s a hex wrench?”

See, he’s 14 now. And that means it’s T minus four years till a vast assortment of his advice will come from college students just as clueless as he will be. So this morning, before he crawled out of bed, I sent this list of life skills for teens to my husband for printing.

Playing mom-of-teenager (plus any other hats, like, oh, working mom) can get a little cray-cray. Sometimes I feel like to live in this century is to live within in a blur, like we’re on a merry-go-round that’s too fast, yanking us off-center. As Westerners (and I lump myself into that), when asked how life is, half of us will answer “busy”. But what if the tyranny of the urgent keeps me from the critical?