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.
Of all the things that happen to my family, this is the one experience I least expected.
If I were to tell you that a cult approached my 17-year-old daughter, what would you say?
How about if I told you that both my ex-husband and I visited with the cult members on two different occasions?
And finally, what would you say if I told you when I sensed something was a little off, I didn’t tell her to cease contact immediately with the cult’s representatives?
All of this…and more. Keep reading. Continue reading
They text, they tweet, they chat. If the teens in your life are anything like mine, it is nonstop. We spend a lot of time discussing the when, where, how and why of social media usage in our family and to be honest (or TBH in social media speak) I even become exhausted. Continue reading
This social media stuff has gotten out of control. Blood pressures are rising, stress is mounting, and lifelong friendships are dwindling – from behind a computer or mobile device. It’s all because we like, or agree, or vote, or debate, or choose not to debate, or my all time favorite – have suffered more.
And on the last one…let’s change it to we believed we have suffered more, or longer, or harder, and we are going to prove it. On social media. Today.
And here’s a new one: Posting anything new or different or positive apparently now means that we have forgotten about the struggle or the social ills of America or the election or whatever we’re upset about.
Before you know it we become offended. And stressed. And tired of having to explain ourselves. Then the unfriending ensues. Y’all, I’m not exempt from this behavior. I’ve unfriended and I’ve unfollowed as well. I’ve even written the oh-so-sly yet really passive-aggressive post that usually ends with, “Unfriend me if you must…this is the truth.”
As a parent though, and as a parent of teenagers who have very active social media lives, I discovered something very important. Sometimes when the kids become frustrated with an issue that shouldn’t even be on social media in the first place, the first thing they want to do is unfriend, unfollow, and block. Even if there’s no real place for it.
They think that’s what they should do because that’s what they’ve seen us do. Continue reading
As a mom of bigs, it’s hard to get my kids to talk to me. Sure, they talk when they want to talk, and they often filter what they say. Translation, they tell me what they want me to know, when they want me to know it. There are always two (sometimes three) sides to every story, I eventually hear the 4th side (a side for each person involved, and the 4th side for the truth.). It’s a reality of parenting that I have come to accept over the years.
Even though I make myself available to them, even though I remind myself to listen and not react. There are just some things the adolescent mind does not want to share with parents. This week, The Huffington Post launched a movement to spark conversations between parents and children. Continue reading
Hey Twilli 