Wednesday, February 17, 2016

We Have a Teenager

Since the day I became a mommy (13 years ago on 2/14/03) I have been afraid of the day I would become the mom of a teen.  Most especially because our first teen is a B-O-Y.  I have been afraid of teenage boys since I was a teen (you know, back in the late '50's...) and I can honestly say I have NEVER known how to talk to one. 



These are the days when I miss my Grandma the most - I wish that I had her here to tell me how she did it.  Now, make no mistake - her kids aren't perfect but they ALL loved her beyond reason.  She was their best friend (mine, too) and she clearly made it through the teen years fairly unscathed.  Luckily, her daughter and her daughters-in-law (my aunts and my mom) have all raised teenage boys...some of them have done so more recently than others.  My cousins, while a bit goofy and certainly possessing that bizarre Anderson-ness, are awesome guys.  How were they as teens?  I don't know - I was afraid of them then.  Once they hit 20 they were cool to hang out with again but their teen years I pretty much avoided them (sorry guys!).



And now I have a son who is 13(!)...and I don't want to avoid him for the next 7 years.  He's kinda awesome now and I want to make sure he and I are comfortable with each other (and talking about things that my parents avoided - and still avoid - like the plague)(my mom still flinches if I say the word "penis")(true story)(as a matter of fact, she's probably fumbling with the mouse right now in her haste to close this post).



So I read articles like this one.  And blog posts like this one. And I try to speak words like these to ALL of my babies.  And I pray.  A LOT.  I also rely on Greg to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to this.  I mean, he WAS a teenage boy so he's got loads more experience than I do.  And I think that we'll make it.  I mean, I'm not giving up and even though I feel like I have TONS to learn about this new level of parenting, my faith in God, myself, and my boy will see me through.  And then we can do it all together again in 2 years when my younger son turns into one.

1 comment:

  1. I think you will soon be surprised at how remarkably uncomplicated teen boys are. And stinky.

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