Who out there is raising a teen or almost teen and feels like they are failing miserably?
I am raising my hand over here.
It’s a new part of parenting that Dave and I are navigating. I think we are doing well and other days it feels like we just can’t get it right. This pretty much sums up parenting right?. We are learning, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and trying to figure out what works best for our girl and our family.
I’ve been reading and attending workshops to get different perspectives on it all. There’s so much for our kids to learn about the world between now and the time they leave our house and it feels like there’s just not enough time. But then again, that also sounds like an excuse and I am not one to make up excuses when it comes to the most important thing in my life, my family.
Here are a few things I am reading, watching, trying out, to navigate having a teen. As I write this, our oldest is only 12, not quite 13. However, we have been doing the work for a few years now. Please leave a comment if you have any resources to share with us on this journey! 🙂
Books:
- Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen: The Essential Conversations You Need to Have with Your Kids Before They Start High School
by Michelle Icard - Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood
by Lisa Damour Ph.D - Love Her Well: 10 Ways to Find Joy and Connection with Your Teenage Daughter
by Kari Kampakis
Movies:
- Beautiful Boy*
- Not Alone
- 13 Reasons Why*
- Childhood 2.0
- The Social Dilemma
*We did not watch these with our daughter but I think they are good movies/shows to remind us of what kids are up against these days!
Organizations:
- Follow Katey McPherson on Facebook. She is an amazing advocate for teens and parents of them.
- Check out Protect Young Eyes.
Year of Becoming:
Each month, my daughter and I work on a theme on something she is passionate about. For example, we have studied the environment. We read books about it, we watched a related movie, went on a field trip and interviewed someone who works in the field. It’s been a fun focus for her and I to connect and for me to help her discover her talents and see how they can be used in the real world as she grows up! I got this idea from the following book: A Voice Becoming: A Yearlong Mother-Daughter Journey into Passionate, Purposed Living by Beth Bruno.
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