I’m in Mom of a Teenager training. I just realized it today. Over the last few months, I’ve found myself recalling all the “wait till they’re 11 or 12” advice I’ve heard by my friends and mentors over the years. I hear those things…I listen…I tuck it away for when it’s needed.
Now it’s needed.
…the tidbit from Tina about progesterone cream and its benefits for pubescent boys was needed (and is working).
…the modeling of how to talk through a situation with an angry-for-seemingly-no-reason child was needed (Lord, help!).
…I needed the casual comment from Esther about how tween and teen boys need a place to hang out and just be boys. She made that statement about 4 years ago as we were finishing the family room. She said, “Oh yeah, this’ll be just perfect as the boys get older. As long as you can feed them, you can let this be the hangout cause you know boys need that.”
We returned from bible quizzing practice today with two boys that I didn’t birth. I sent them downstairs as I went up and said to myself, “I can feed them. They can hang out and I can feed them.”
I brought down the food. They ate and acted like tween and teen boys. I stayed downstairs. Not to spy. It just happened that my laptop was down here and my back is still recovering so I wasn’t eager to move it. It didn’t take long for me to feel out of place. They didn’t care…but I could tell that my estrogen was throwing off the balance. I made my exit, went upstairs, made more food. They ate.
So now I have to do certain “preparations” before the tween has friends over. Preparations that keep me out of the room, but not pushed out of my home. It’ll bode well for me; now I can get the office organized. I’ll just live in there.
This is going to be our secret, okay? They think I’m raising them. They have nary a clue that the actual process is that of growing a mother.
Leave a Reply