Soon to have two official teens in the house
Emily will be 13 next Monday.
Where does time go?
However, she's not going gracefully into teen-dom.
As a matter of fact, she starts therapy one week from her birthday.
Or, more accurately, Geoff and I do. We get the first hit with the family counselor.
There's something completely unnerving about putting your child into counseling. I mean, even before she was born, there were books to guide us...right up through age 3 or so, actually. Then you find yourself on your own...doing the best you can as a parent. Making sure we all sit down to dinner together, checking homework, chauffering them to dance lessons and field hockey practices, art lessons, etc. Then, when everything seems perfectly fine, you notice a small crack. Shit...that crack doesn't feel so small. After many nights of not knowing how to communicate with our daughter we decided to get a professional involved. There have been so many tear filld nights...awful things yelled at us and back, unfortunately. I hate to think that I'm causing undue damage by reacting to the moods, so therapy it is. And the good news is that Emily is amenable to the entire thing. Making me think that she needs to talk to someone besides her dad and myself. And while part of that breaks my heart, it also makes me feel like I am, in fact, doing an ok job as a parent.
The teens are hard.
I would never want to go back.
I just want to make sure we all get through them unscathed!
Where does time go?
However, she's not going gracefully into teen-dom.
As a matter of fact, she starts therapy one week from her birthday.
Or, more accurately, Geoff and I do. We get the first hit with the family counselor.
There's something completely unnerving about putting your child into counseling. I mean, even before she was born, there were books to guide us...right up through age 3 or so, actually. Then you find yourself on your own...doing the best you can as a parent. Making sure we all sit down to dinner together, checking homework, chauffering them to dance lessons and field hockey practices, art lessons, etc. Then, when everything seems perfectly fine, you notice a small crack. Shit...that crack doesn't feel so small. After many nights of not knowing how to communicate with our daughter we decided to get a professional involved. There have been so many tear filld nights...awful things yelled at us and back, unfortunately. I hate to think that I'm causing undue damage by reacting to the moods, so therapy it is. And the good news is that Emily is amenable to the entire thing. Making me think that she needs to talk to someone besides her dad and myself. And while part of that breaks my heart, it also makes me feel like I am, in fact, doing an ok job as a parent.
The teens are hard.
I would never want to go back.
I just want to make sure we all get through them unscathed!