There is nothing more irritating than a know-it-all. Oh wait, a fifteen-year-old teenage son know-it-all is more irritating…probably as bad as five grown know-it-all men put together. Max and I just challenged one another about batteries and sun block. You heard me. Batteries. And. Sun block.

I may be a little sketchy on my battery facts…

But I think I remember one of my director/producer bosses from Good Morning America or MediaLink or somewhere from my professional past telling me that water and HEAT are the two greatest enemies of electronics. That’s one of the many reasons they keep the television studios as cold as they do. I’m really good at remembering little facts like that. Really good. And I have forty six years of  ’em stored up. Doesn’t the fifteen-year-old realize that? Anyway, Max says “No” to my concern about his ultra expensive camera battery packs being left in the car for God knows how long. “Batteries do better in heat than they do in cold, Mom. The cold drains batteries.”  I shoot back, “I’m quite certain extreme heat, in a closed car, with sunlight streaming in, can melt batteries.” “No, not right,” he counters. I might look that up. You know, Google it or something, but I have a lot of other stuff to do this afternoon.

I’m pretty sure I’m totally in the right about the sun block…that the POSITIVE of wearing sun block on your face during your lacrosse game to prevent skin cancer far outweighs the NEGATIVE of having a little of the sun block “leak into your eyes ” – his words, not mine – when you sweat, which could cause your eyes to sting and your vision to blur so that you completely lose sight of the ball which leads to losing the whole lacrosse game and then the entire team hating you.  All because of sun block.

Since I am the epitome of grace in my mothering, I let it all go, allowing the Teenage Know-It-All to have the last word during both of these challenges. And now I am venting here, in this post, about the batteries and the sun block because I know you, friends. I know that you, in turn, will be graceful, that you’ll  just read and support the Queen Bee. I know you wouldn’t dare challenge her about the batteries or the sun block.

Because, as we’ve already established, that kind of know-it-all behavior is totally irritating.