I’m not sure, but I think I’ve lost the ‘Mother of the Year’ award again this year.
I said that this weekend as a lot of us parents sat on the sidelines watching our daughters play in a soccer tournament. We all laughed and some agreed they felt the same.
My thoughts raced back to an article I recently saw about the 10 things a good parent does or something to that affect. When I read it, I heard myself saying, “Oops. Uh nope. Darn it! Can I start over again?”
We think parenthood is all fun and games, until it’s not, which pretty much begins in the teenage years, where it becomes increasingly difficult to connect with your child-turning-into-adult.
We had a lot of time to visit this weekend with other parents that have felt the same sting of this transition. I’m so glad I’m not the only one.
There is no instruction booklet on how to parent, especially when we need the extra patience and understanding. And I think sometimes we forget we are dealing with little people who are having a lot of “firsts” in their lives and are sorting it all out. They are not little adults. They are having a lot of new experiences.
A friend said the teens of today have so much more to deal with and it adds to the stress of growing up, it’s very true. It’s not as simple as when we were growing up. Now they are dealing with 24/7 social media, multiple extracurricular clubs and sports, and just the stress in general to keep up with fashion, school, colleges and more. It’s overwhelming.
So I’m asking myself how do we connect better with our youth? For me, I will just keep giving positive input, let them know they can do anything if they put their mind to it and show care and concern by asking everyday how they are doing. I will stop making assumptions on how they feel and include them in everything possible to keep them engaged with us and let them know I care. I know they hear me. They do need to know I am not perfect and I don’t always say the right thing. But the single most important thing they all need to know is that they are loved, forever and a day.
Email Paula at paulaparisot@gmail.com.
