There are all these books out there about parenting with Love and Logic. I know this because I have read my fair share of them, and up until this exact point of time in my parenting career I would say that they have been helpful and welcome. I believe that teens are perhaps the most endearing, challenging and important group of people in our society - our strongest critics, our future leaders and eventually, our caregivers. This belief, combined with the memory of my own teenhood challenges and the fact that I love my children, lead me to figure the parenting teenagers "stage" would be easy. Or at least, easier for me. Because I am just that good.
Boy, was I wrong. And it really has nothing to do with Logic...
"Raising teens is like trying to nail jello to a tree"
- some poor, unknown parent of a teenager
- some poor, unknown parent of a teenager
I really do try, but there are times I am still on the recieving end of "the look" again (if you're a parent of a teen I am sure you know this one - it's the "You're so Retarded" look). I can't wait to be smart and cool again! Can't they see how totally awesome I am?
My dear Allie Cat
ReplyDeleteYou've always were and will always be cool and smart. I know this because we are kindred spirits! ;-). The matter of the fact however, is that no matter how good of a parent you are, teenagers are teenagers. Even the best ones send those disparaging looks! Much love,
Nicolle in France
Nikki! Nice of you to stop by - been thinking about you! We're going to come visit you in Paris very soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Most of the post of course was meant to be a litle tongue in cheek... and the last comment, well proving how much of a geek I am, is a quote from Animal Crossing's Wild World. I have amazing kids and I can't really (or shouldn't really) complain. But yeah, boy can I tell this is going to be different. And the mistakes have much higher stakes, too.
Hey we had a lot of fun as teenagers didn't we... :-)