My hamper floweth over

I am the mother of a pre-teen. What? Nooo, I have 5 small children, right? It is becoming increasingly apparent that is not the case. November 3 I will be living with an 11 year old. How did this happen?

My daughter is feeling the changes. The once stoic girl is now teary eyed at the drop of hat. Easily frustrated, outraged by every injustice, scared of the unknown.

When she was 2 and we bought her a toddler bed, she sat quietly in the corner as we dismantled her crib and assembled her new "big girl bed". She watched in silence, needing to come to grips with what was happening. She was excited, but it was a change. She has my adventurous sense for new things. NOT! (see Summer, I am 30 something, too.)

The summer before I became pregnant with her, I worked as a counselor at a summer camp. I worked with Junior High girls, and I was good at it. Patient, attentive...
At the end of the week, we made "warm fuzzy" sheets. Papers that you pass around to let others write nice things about you. Most of them are very yearbook-ish. "You are a good friend", "you are nice", "you are pretty"...... One girl wrote "You are a good listener. You look at me when I talk to you. Thank you."

I don't look at me daughter when she talks to me enough. I am looking at the dishes or laundry, looking at the poopy diaper I am changing, the computer...And when I do look at her, I often don't see her.

I know this is a critical time. The child who talks to me non-stop about everything could become a teenager that shuts me out. It is easy to meet the needs of "the kids", but much harder to meet the needs of the individuals.

I promise, Jordan, to remember this all at least once a day. I promise to look at you, to try to see past the child in my mind and really see you.

I am pretty glad you get to do the teenage thing first! Nothing is going to make us feel older than having teens!

She's beautiful.-Camille

She is beautiful.

Is there ever a point when parenting gets easy? Please?

I'm in tears. You are both beautiful!

ejk

So this is like reading EXACTLY what I'm thinking!!! Too weird. My oldest is 11 and I just cannot believe that he is becoming a teenager. I too find myself struggling with the fact that I still see him as a little boy, but I'm actually looking at a teenager. I know he feels it too. Still young enough to be a kid, but at that almost old enough age that he wants to always be part of the adult crowd. I have a feeling we'll be riding that fence for the next year or so until he truly hits the teenage years.

Here's to raising great kids that will turn into great adults!!!