Raising a Teenager is Hard, Y'all

I know, I know. Two blog posts in one day...it's almost unheard of. While I do want to blog about my life and day to day stuff, I also want to create posts that address different topics regularly. I plan to be as open and honest as possible, sometimes maybe brutally so. I hope that by sharing my story and hopefully some good insights, I can inspire or lift up just one person like some of the bloggers that I read have done for me.

I was having a hard time trying to decide which topic to tackle first, but this one just sort of fell into my lap today so thought I would start here. Teenagers are rough, y'all! I have a feeling that I am not alone in this. Lol

I have a 13 year old girl. Yes, I have "a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad" teenage girl. She is everything that I was as a child...times ten, and I am not exaggerating. I think I am getting punished for her uncle and her Daddy! The eye rolling and door slamming and back talking are pretty much an every day occurrence these days (and yes, sometimes it IS me). It drives me nuts! I mean, I was expecting the teenage years to be bad but man! lol

I love her to death, but she is drama personified. It doesn't take much to set her off and today was one of those days. She came home from school in a foul mood and immediately began taking it out on me. I saw a Sheila Walsh sermon a couple of months ago where she basically said that hurt people strike out at those closest to them because they can. They know we will love them no matter what. While I know that in my head, it doesn't make the hurts any easier or the slights go away. I struggle every day with trying to be a good example to her and giving grace, but it's not easy.

She knows exactly which buttons to push and boy howdy, does she! Most of the time these days, her dagger of choice is to threaten to move out and go live with her Dad. I never had that kind of option as a kid because my parents, God bless them, have been together forever! But, I guess for this generation, it is an occurrence more often than not. It is definitely heartbreaking to hear that your child would rather live with someone else than stay under your roof, but I also know that it is mostly the rebelliousness talking.  I've come close a couple of times to packing her bags for her, but I know deep down that is not in her best interest. 

Raising a teenager is tough. They are so beautiful, strong and independent and yet so naive, willful and disobedient at times. I love my girl with all my heart and even though days like today are rough, it's my job. I am her parent, her protector and her cheerleader. I will always support her no matter what. It may not always be what she would like, but I am always going to be her Mom. 

One day, I hope she will see how much I love her. One day, I hope that she can recognize that I have rules for a reason. One day, I hope that she will thank me for being her mom. Then maybe we will become friends. 

Until then...there is always wine!

Thanks for stopping by,

KT