Firsts - There are many firsts in our lives. The first day of life, first day of school, first kiss, for some the first marriage, the list of firsts goes on and on. For me, life is not easy and certainly not simple.
I married my husband 5 years ago, and with him came a step daughter, J. That stepdaughter is now 13 years old (almost 14) and in the 8th grade. So not only are there firsts in my life, but I need to learn abouts/deal with the firsts in her life.
We are in those dreaded scary teenage years where parents just pray and worry all the time. We have raised her with some freedom while letting her know what our expectations are. We reiterate what we expect often, as we are constantly reminded of how we were as teenagers. Whenever she is visiting with the neighbor boys (one of whom she was "dating") *They have broken up for now, momentary peace of mind!*, I constantly think about all the things I did as a teenager and all the emotions/hormones that I remember. The last thing I want for her is to make a big mistake and end up pregnant. She has too much growing up to do yet.... This child was so sheltered living with her mother that she just now learned what really happened on 9-11. How sad is that? I understand she was young (1st grade?), but all these years and no one explained it to her?! That's a major lack of education there.
I married my husband 5 years ago, and with him came a step daughter, J. That stepdaughter is now 13 years old (almost 14) and in the 8th grade. So not only are there firsts in my life, but I need to learn abouts/deal with the firsts in her life.
We are in those dreaded scary teenage years where parents just pray and worry all the time. We have raised her with some freedom while letting her know what our expectations are. We reiterate what we expect often, as we are constantly reminded of how we were as teenagers. Whenever she is visiting with the neighbor boys (one of whom she was "dating") *They have broken up for now, momentary peace of mind!*, I constantly think about all the things I did as a teenager and all the emotions/hormones that I remember. The last thing I want for her is to make a big mistake and end up pregnant. She has too much growing up to do yet.... This child was so sheltered living with her mother that she just now learned what really happened on 9-11. How sad is that? I understand she was young (1st grade?), but all these years and no one explained it to her?! That's a major lack of education there.
The first week of school has passed, and we have survived. While the first day of school started off terribly, the rest of the week went okay, mainly because J was too tired to think of anything that would be the start to a fight. We had laid out that she gets home from practice, eats supper, then gets her homework done before she can go back outside. She has been asleep by 9:30-10:00 each night. Kinda nice to have it a little easier that way. Too bad she still won't spend much time with E. E really likes to spend time with her and be outside with her, even when the other friends are around. But J just refuses to spend time with her. Makes me sad/mad also, because J has pics of her other sisters on her MySpace page but not one single pic of E on there. The sisters she complains about and can't stand are the ones that she is willing to show off. How does that work?
More to come...Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment