One of my children define hope as “opening the fridge knowing that what you are looking for will not be there but you do it anyway hoping that it will be there.”

This statement was uttered during breakfast and it made everyone laugh because the statement captured the very essence of my children’s relationship with the fridge. I am sure I am not the only one who has experienced this. One of your teenage kids goes to the kitchen, opens the fridge and stare for a minute then closes it. The same child comes back 20 minutes later and does the same thing again. And this ritual is repeated by all the children in the house over and over again. The content of the fridge doesn’t really matter because sometimes they just open it for the sake of opening it.

As a parent or a parent of teenagers, you begin to ask yourself where you went wrong…You call your own parents for advice but instead of giving you an advice they laugh and say “thank you God, there’s justice after all…” You then flashback to your own youth and realize that you too use to do the same exact thing.

This scene has been played out all over America in real life and on t.v., like the Cosby Show. So is this teenage fascination over the fridge purely American or does it also happened in other countries? Is there a cure or a solution for it or do we just have to wait it out until our children move out?

I guess I wouldn’t mind so much if my children open the fridge constantly as long as my energy bill stays the same, but it doesn’t. I thought of putting a lock on the fridge but I know it wouldn’t work becuase they will keep bugging me to open the fridge for them. I also considered taking a picture of what’s inside and posting it on the fridge but this would take too much work for me.

So you see no matter what I do, I am doomed. Maybe if someone builds a fridge with a glass window then my problem would be solved. But until that day comes, I will just be resigned to hearing my fridge door slamm and seeing my energy bill rise.