You are a stronger woman than I! I try so hard with my cousins that age, but sometimes I think NOTHING I say matters because I'm not "cool." Like if some random guy with a mohawk and a tattoo tells them to drop out of school and do drugs they'll be like "awesome! are you on instagram?!" I love them because they're just kids who think they're adults, and they need us, and they're good people, but I feel like they're so close to falling off an edge and they don't even know it. But you're right, even with my own cousins, half of that attitude is because of their parents... Like my cousin Julio rebels because his mom and dad treat him like he'll never be as good as his sisters, they fight like CRAZY, like screaming and breaking glass and throwing stuff, but he's never even frowned at me... And my cousin Sol is never going to get anywhere in life because she was raised to think she was already perfect and all she has to do is make babies and life will work itself out. Actually she's 20 now, but things that happened in middle school made her who she is now... Maybe that's it, it's scary because adults are made out of middle schoolers... Anyway, it's good to know their teachers are influencing them too, not just their parents and their friends!!!!! I promise I'll stick to makeup now lol Although that's a whole other issue, my 11 year old cousin's dad is messing him up because my little cousin puts on nail polish and makeup and stuff sometimes when he's with me because it's just fun, and his dad is a NASTY homophobe who calls him gay and gets furious if he finds out. Now THAT'S how you create a teenager who hates you.