But a reality check (even something as mild as "hey it's not that bad") is callous and invalidating our feelings.
For sure it is. At the same time, we have to get accustomed to some level of discomfort, otherwise we learn and do very little.
(by the way, sometimes when I type, a whole lot of random letters come out instead of the words I want. Like, not even close...)
Well off topic.
It's somewhat developmentally appropriate in adolescents as they only have so much context and as there's a lot of really big upheavals including emotional ones,
I know of kids around here who haven't grazed a knee, because they have barely been outside to play in a way they could. What happens when they are fifteen and going through a breakup with their "true love"?
The first part sounds like normal teenage things XD
Yes, in many ways. But even teenagers can have some sense of context, even though not fully developed. If they have no exposure to discomfort, I think they lose the ability to tell mountain from molehill quite quickly.
He's probably also very up and down with moods because he's a teenager and also because reality destroying the expectations created by fantasy can be a devastating blow to the ego (but it is of course everyone else's fault).
The "reality destroying expectations created by fantasy" is a massive problem. Moreso, because many will still believe that the fantasy is the ideal, undermining the experience and lessons provided by reality.
Having said that I'm reasonably sure everyone has encountered at least one person who makes very confidently completely wrong assertions about things they know nothing at all about and they're not always children XD
I have no idea what you are talking about ;)
It's why you have to let them get hurt (just a little bit, I'm all for actively preventing and/or dissuading activities that could lead to broken bones etc) and sort stuff out themselves and only get an adult if they really can't (which I remember you having written about before).
I didn't encounter a lot of lawnmower parents in the homeschool groups I was in (all the likes eventually flocked together, the groups I was in preferred being able to tell each others kids off if they were doing something wrong without the instigator kids' parents flying off the handle and the parents that didn't like that didn't last long in the group) but did eventually when my kids started doing more "after school" activities. Kind of thought they were doing their kids a disservice (I'm pretty sure I've told you about the one that wouldn't even say "no" to their kid to not "crush their spirit") but we're not allowed to judge other people's parenting out loud (this counts as out loud so I'm about to get cancelled XD).
We were kind of chasing fantasies well before screens happened. Probably every child thinks they can do "whatever they want" when they're an adult and can't wait (especially after they desperately want something and the adults have said no "for no reason" aka either adults were legit too lazy/couldn't be bothered or their very legitimate reason made no sense or felt irrelevant to the child therefore wasn't a "good" reason) and then they hit adulthood and have to deal with all the nonsense that comes with it but they still keep chasing that "whatever they want" but this time it's surely if they're rich beyond their wildest dreams but reality does kick in eventually.
even when one is a narcissist apparently, I remember being somewhat intrigued when I learned about nnarcissistic collapse
eta because I just registered your last sentence, I'm sure you have met that kind of person before! And if you're implying you are that kind of person well at least you're fun and easy to converse with XD In my experience a lot of that type of person is the opposite x_x