From American Magazine-My two teenage boys don’t like going to Mass. They never have. When he was 4 years old my now 16-year-old used to stage-whisper the question “How much longer until the doughnut part?” every few minutes. So closely was Mass linked in his mind to the sweets he got at the end, that once when he heard a song on the radio that sounded like a hymn he asked, “Is that doughnut music?” Now that they are older, my boys no longer cry when they have to go to Mass, and they do not have to be bribed with doughnuts (though they never skip them). But their resistance can still be fierce.
On Ash Wednesday this year, none of us wanted to go. I was tired from teaching and stressed from my long commute home in a snowstorm. I wanted to put my feet up and watch the news. The 13-year-old felt he should be excused because his braces, which had been adjusted that day, were making his teeth ache. I believed it. The 16-year-old had a lot of homework and, really, really didn’t think he should be forced to go. He argued that he was old enough to make his own choices. I nearly caved. But instead, we got into the car and set out in the storm, both of them texting silently all the way, no doubt about the unfairness of it all.
More here-
http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/05/18/case-dragging-your-bored-teens-and-tired-self-mass
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