Parents often warn other parents to be prepared for those dreaded teen years:
“Just write off about five years of their lives.”
“During those years, they think you know nothing. Then, in college, miraculously, you’re once again brilliant and they ask you how to do everything from folding laundry to paying rent.”
“Oh, they’ll tell you they hate you, but they’re just really mad at you.”
“I didn’t know the person who inhabited my daughter’s body during those years. But, in about eleventh grade, the daughter I knew returned.”
In the early years of their lives, many kids try hard to please their parents. They implicitly acknowledge their necessary state of dependence and pretty much worship the ground we walk on. The effect on parents’ egos is rather intoxicating. We reach a point where we start to believe we know what we’re doing. We stand tall and breath sighs of relief, as we begin to feel confident in our parenting abilities. We go through stages where we proudly boast about achievements and quickly pull out photos of the little angels. But if we talk to parents with teenagers, we often hear them say (to those of us with younger children) that we should “enjoy it while you can” because it can change in a flash when those adorable toddlers and grade school kids reach adolescence.
As my kids approached middle school, I witnessed other teens grow sassy and more defiant so I found myself getting a little nervous, worrying more than I used to, wondering if my kids would change and, more importantly if our relationships would drastically change.
Well?
