For anyone who has teenagers in their house, you will understand my frustration at the word ‘fine’. It gets used frequently but you can tell by the body language that it does not always mean the same thing. So, I am putting together a list of the definitions. I would welcome your assistance.
So far, I have come up with:
- I didn’t do very well [in my test, match, game, date, etc] but I am trying to process it myself and I don’t want to talk about it [yet].
- I had a good day but I don’t think you would like what I did
- Your question is too broad and I don’t know how to answer it in the way you want
- I am not fine, but it’s easier to say I am than to explain why I feel sad
- I am not in the mood to answer you [at the moment]
- I am actually fine, why do you keep asking me?
- And then one from an adult who loves acronyms and gave me this definition of FINE (I have changed the F-word he used to another F-word):
- Feeling
- Insecure
- Neurotic and
- Emotional
I would welcome any definitions you can add to this list so we parents can support each other to better understand our teenagers.