Signs you live with a teenager: In photos
Teenagers are an interesting species.
Much to the shock of many parents, they appear in homes seemingly out of nowhere.
Adorable children, quick to hug and sometimes keen to tidy, morph into something more akin to hibernating bears. Their rooms become virtual black holes in which dishes and clothing and the occasional pet disappears.
Here, we have compiled several clear signs a teenager is inhabiting your home.
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A shocked mum has found a note propped in her laundry from a teenager daughter who is no longer living with her.
"Please do this washing too xxx," the note read in large, red handwriting all in caps.
"At least they said please," one observer commented while the other felt the "xxx" was enough to kick the task back to the teenage taskmaster.
A frustrated parent has taken to Reddit to share a photo of their teenage son's room, asking incredulously: "Is this normal for an 18 year old?"
In the photo, we see a bedroom strewn with clothing, books, shoe boxes and other items, despite having plenty of furniture in which to place all of these.
The bed is unmade and one drawer has even been left propped open.
One Redditor advised the parent not to "fret", explaining they too were like this when they were teenagers and are now "the pickiest clean freak."
Another commenter sympathised with the parent.
"Wow same. I can't have clutter anymore or clothes lying about. Plus the smell! My 15 year old's room just smells, even though it's relatively clean," they wrote.
"Give him two laundry baskets, one for dirty clothes, and one for 'still good' clothes. Then have him do his own laundry," one Redditer advised.
"Give him two laundry baskets, one for dirty clothes, and one for 'still good' clothes. Then have him do his own laundry," added another.
A frustrated mum has shared a very sad photo indeed, showing Oreo cookies that have been 'eaten' by their teenager.
"Walked into the kitchen to find a pile of Oreo cookies with the cream eaten out of them," she wrote.
"So annoying and such a waste. I am tempted to eat them anyway had he not so thoroughly licked them."
"Hide them," a fellow parent advised the mum who said she is considering this move.
The mum added: "He has done this to other biscuits too and I have begged him not to but have often woken up to messes like this."
A frustrated parent has shared a photo of the petrol gauge in their car after their child borrowed it for a recent outing.
The gauge shows the car is one mile (1.6 kilometres) to empty.
"This is how my daughter left the car for me today," they wrote on Reddit's 'Mildly Infuriating' thread. "I was afraid to even drive it to the nearby gas station!"
"My son did that to me," one Redditor shared "Once! Since I biked more than drive I just left it parked until he needed it again. Never had an fuel empty car since."
"Lmao that reminds me of a story where a guy stole a huge bottle of vodka from his dad and filled it back up with water and put it in the back of the liquor cabinet as a teenager," another shared.
"Years later, he's moved out to college and is broke but still wants to party, so he asks for some liquor from his dad, who then gives him the vodka bottle full of water.
"The man sat on it for years waiting to give it back."
Another commented: "I'd say kids going places but not with 1 mile of gas…"
A mum has shared a photo of her freezer, showing an empty box of ice creams.
"Why??!!" she wrote, saying her teenagers will often eat the last of something and leave the empty box or packet in the freezer, fridge or cupboard.
"What part of their brain thinks it is okay for them to leave it there?" she laments. "It would take them two seconds to put the empty packet in the bin and they are putting the wrapper in the bin anyway!"
A shocked mum has woken up and walked into her kitchen to find cupboards and drawers left open.
"OMG woke up to a horror movie," she wrote.
"Either we have a ghost or my teenager has been 'feeding' again at night."
A McDonald's worker in the US shared an image showing a booth that has been 'cleaned' by teenager customers, and it is a scene many a parent of teens will recognise.
"Teens being teens," they commented on Reddit alongside the photo which shows a couple of discarded food wrappers, a drink container on an chair, a straw and random fries.
What is most confusing is that they have clearly placed most of their rubbish in the bins provided.
"If my kids ever do this, Ill have failed as a parent AND a restaurant employee," one Redditer commented.
In a show of camaraderie, a fellow McDonald's employee said: "It was very busy and like a 13yo started blasting the Mr Beast TikTok meme song on a speaker... Ruined my day. Didn't throw away his wrappers either."
A cinema-goer has been left horrified at the mess left by a family, including teenagers, during a recent trip to the movies.
"Went to see a movie a couple weeks ago. The people behind us (seemingly a family consisting of a few teenagers) were extremely loud and kept climbing over the seats into our row and yelling at each other," they shared on Reddit.
"This is the mess they left."
In the photo we see a row of cinema seats with empty food wrappings and drink containers left in the cup holders and on the seats.
"I stopped going to movies because people lack common courtesy and civility," one Redditor commented.
Disturbingly, former cinema employees have commented on how tame this mess is compared to other rubbished they have come across while cleaning.
"As the one who cleans this very sort of thing up, this is nothing. I see no mess here that I don't regularly find. I've seen it all!" one said.
"Worked, a long time ago, in a cinema - can confirm - this is NOTHING!" added another.
A teenager has shown just how literal they are by following their parent's instruction to unload the dishwasher, stopping short of putting the clean dishes away.
Their incredulous parent has shared a photo of their handiwork on Reddit.
They wrote: "I told my teenager to unload the dishwasher before going out with his friends for the evening."
In the photo we see the contents of the dishwasher stacked neatly on the kitchen bench.
"Mans did what he was told," one Redditer commented.
"I mean, he did...." another said.
"Well he did unload it," added another.
"I'd leave it all on his bed," another said.
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