Parenting Teens. I went to a seminar on this subject at church today. I know what you are thinking...
”Why Brenda, why on EARTH would you need to go to a seminar on parenting, your skill in this area is awesome as displayed by your three well mannered, fine, upstanding boys.”
HA, HA, HA, HO, HO, HO, HEE, HEE, HEE. Let’s all take a moment to catch our breath after that. Laughter is good medicine you know!
I love my boys. They each make me proud to be their mom in their own separate ways. BUT I am not fool enough or blind enough to think that they are poster children for teenagers of the year. So I felt like if someone was willing to guide me in the ways of parenting that would guarantee my children’s future success, I needed to jump on that train and get as much information as I could. Guess what I found out.
Parenting is a crap shoot.
Yes, there are things you can do to make your children feel loved, ways to guide them to make well thought out, responsible decisions, teach them how to survive in the world, but in the end, they are their own beings that have to make choices on their own and learn to live with the consequences of those choices, both good and bad.
They are their own person...go figure.
Honestly, this really was a great workshop with great ideas and wonderful counsel, but the best thing that came out of it was the realization that I was not alone. Even the “best of us” have struggled in the parenting arena. So when are we going to drop the act that we have it all together, that our kids are perfect, and that bad things and bad choices don’t happen to good parents and start helping and supporting one another?
“Hello, my name is Brenda, and I am the parent of teens that sometimes make bad choices.”
Now if you will excuse me, it is time for me to make my weekly phone call to my parents to say “I’m sorry. I’m just so sorry. I had no idea how hard your life was when I was a teen.”
And then my mom will LAUGH!
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