Thursday, April 5, 2012

Does Parenting Teen Daughters Ever Get Better?


Brace yourself as nothing you can do or say will help! Sure, as the parent of a girl you have most probably had some disagreements. Multiply that by thousands and that is what it is like once she reaches her teens. Rarely do you get blessed with the teenager that does not go thru this horrible stage.

Many mothers will tell you that everything they did was wrong according to their teen daughters. As a mother, you are not doing anything any differently than you did with this child when she was ten or eleven, but for some strange reason they literally turn on you. It is as if you went to sleep one evening and all was well and you woke up in this living nightmare that you cannot escape.

Most people are not sure if the teen is just experiencing growing pains and they are taking it out on you or what exactly has now happened to your relationship with your daughter. It is typically equated to that of a dog suddenly and with no provocation turning on its master. Same thing only that you will quickly wish that the dog…aka teen, would just bite you and be done with it. Unfortunately, you cannot be so lucky as to escape this torment with a simple dog bite. No, it goes on for many years.

You will begin by being the loving mother. Is there anything you can do to help them have a better day at school or to do better at their sport? They will snap at you. You will stand there wondering who they are and where did your child go because surely THIS is NOT your child? Soon you will be told not to stand next to them at the mall, that is if you are even allowed to be seen with them at the mall. You will be told not to touch them or hug them. Along with the new rules it will most likely be announced that you are not to ask about how their day went because they simply don’t like it when you do.

Then the crying will begin. You cannot escape it. Every mother morns the lose of her good child and the gain of a teenager that for no reason at all, now hates her. One could understand this hatred if you had left her out on the street all night or had not provided her any food or clothing. The hatred is due solely upon that fact that you exist. Most mothers have a good cry and they move on because they know that this is just all part of parenting a teen. Some mothers might tell you that their teen is great, perfect, no trouble at all. They are lying! Do not believe them! They just don’t want to admit that their teen is behaving just as badly as yours is.

The best advice one can get about teens is to ignore them as much as you can. Provide them with the basics and just stay out of their way. If they want to talk about their day with you, they will. Ignore it when they crash thru your home after a bad day at school and they are just looking for an audience for their bad behavior. Go read a book! It is better time spent than being sucked into their teenage world of crazy. Life is too short to care so much that it upsets you, your children will grow out of this in due time.

2 comments:

  1. Oh reading this article makes me so thankful I have just one boy. I know girls are so much more difficult because I am one. I feel bad for the mothers that have to suffer through this stage.

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  2. Well, I know my daughter has a few years to go. She is 6, but I'm sure it's going to be one crazy ride once she hits those teens. Probably as soon as she gets her period.

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