advice from Moms of previous teens
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Anonymous
Mydaughter is a tweener...middle school looms. She is our eldest and already I worry about the teen issues ahead--dating, drinking/drugs, sex, driving, mean girls, the gamut of what I recall as a teen. She is a good kid but temptations will be plenty. Any advice from thosewho have been there? I feel silly to worry so soon but she was a baby just yesterday I want to "stay calm, carry on"
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Anonymous
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Look at the threads on this topic in the Older Kids and Teenagers forum. But some you have to take with a grain of salt, like the ones that say if you have family dinners and make sure your child plays sports you are home free. Or that their teens never lie.
Sometimes they just morph into these alien beings that seem beyond your control. But just when you think you've lost them for good to the throes of adolescent angst, they want you to go see Happy Feet 2 with them. The evening my daughter had her 5th grade promotion ceremony you could see this thunderstrom rolling in from far away and barely hear the thunder in the distance. I remember thinking it was so symbolic. Now that my daughter is 14, I think we've been through a few thunderstorms and a couple tsunamis, but the seas have been calmer lately. Best of luck to you. |
Anonymous
| Thank you! |
Anonymous
Just remember they (teens) are not in their right mind. At times when my kids have behaved irrationally - shutting me out, acting impulsively, crying or yelling for no reason, I just repeat this manta "their frontal lobes aren't fully developed yet" and this helps me not take it all too seriously or personally. 
In all seriousness, even when teens are at their worst there's a part of them that still wants to be a kid and be loved unconditionally. They do tend to ping pong back and forth between sounding incredibly grown up and then wanting to watch "Happy Feet" with you. I've found that hanging in there and waiting for those "Happy Feet" moments is often the best approach. It gets easier as they approach college and beyond. That's when you see that it was all worth it! Best wishes, a mom of three - ages 20, 16, 13 |