Y’all, I did the unthinkable for a mom of teenagers.

I asked their opinion on something.

I told them to be honest.

I even double-checked to see if they had any additions to the list.

And they replied, “Can we ask our cousins their opinion, too?”

In the words of my teenagers (and their cousins), I am shook.

I asked them what are the things they wished their mamas and their daddies knew about them in this season of their lives.

My children with some of their teen cousins (with the exception of the cute one in the middle). Their group chat has schooled me on a lot of things.

They didn’t say anything that shocked me. They didn’t say anything that offended me.

But I realized one thing. They are young adults.

They flex independence.

They are faced with more wordly things than I was when I was their age.

They test the limits.

I can’t tell them what to do, how to think, and how to feel.

Or how to vote. (This is not an actual issue in my family, however, it’s something that I thought about when my eldest received his voter registration card.)

Here’s their list:

1. Trust that the Christian values you instilled in us are working.
2. We didn’t come out of the womb spiritually mature so stop excepting us to be.
3. Give us room to explore our faith within Christianity and experience God on our own. For example let us be Methodist, Baptist, etc.- We know that our relationship with Christ is more important than religion.)
4. Temptation happens to us ALL.
5. Our chronological age has nothing to do with our spiritual age.
6. Our youth pastor will know more than you.

And most importantly friends, they are not our babies anymore. If you have teenagers try this experiment and let me know what you learn.