Teen embarrassment

Family courts sometimes consider the wishes of a teenager about which parent should have custody. They usually do not ask the kid directly, but try to infer the kid's wishes from various subjective reports. The process is foolish.

AP reports:

What embarrasses a teen? Parents
By BETH J. HARPAZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK — Mom is not cool in her jeggings and Uggs. Dad's a dork who drives a wreck. Together they're unbearable, singing along in the supermarket to "Do they know it's Christmas?"

No wonder "Mom (or dad), you're embarrassing me!" is heard wherever teenagers are seen in public with their parents.

And yet, parental bad taste is not the true cause of teenage mortification. What's really going on is a normal stage of adolescent development, according to David Sabine, a clinical psychologist in Wichita Falls, Texas.

That's right, a normal stage of adolescent development. If the court tries to avoid such embarrassment, then it is depriving the kid of normal development.