My message today is one of Christmas cheer and hope and peace. To those of you struggling with crazy adolescents right now, trying to help them through the changing social scene, academic struggles, awkward physical changes all the while putting up with their mood swings, erratic and irrational behavior and so on: it's going to be okay. 

Adolescence is a weird and upsetting phase. But it only a phase, a stage of development. Your child will grow out of it. I promise. I have seen this many times, up close and personal. 

This is a hole in our wall courtesy of my son's fist. He had a tempestuous, very volatile adolescence. Everything was a fight--one that my wife and I often felt we were losing. There are a few other holes around our house similar to this one. 

But it ended. He grew up. By 8th grade, things were leveling off. By high school, they were actually improving. Now, he's a junior. He's got a job and is taking challenging classes on his own volition. He's got a plan for the future and he's showing more maturity and motivation by the day. 

Most of all, he's fun to be around: funny, prone to laugh at jokes (even if they are on him), generally nice to his siblings and the others in our family. When he has a bad day, he's fairly quick to snap out of it. 

This happens. It will happen to your child, too. 

So, do the best you can. Have hope. Pray. Try. But just know that it will pass and your child will be normal again. I promise.