We’ve been blessed with two gorgeous, intelligent daughters. They are strong willed, know what they want, and will do great things with their lives for certain. But (you knew it was coming), sometimes, they make parenting difficult!

Our oldest is a junior, a child of much school intelligence, has her first boyfriend. What? This isn’t supposed to happen for many more years. The few non-gray hairs I have are starting to go as I wait up for her coming home!  While I say that, it’s been fun to watch her find her place in the world of high school.  Swimming is her sport, and many view this as a “junk sport” because it’s not something offered by our school and it’s not volleyball or even cross country.  Even with this attitude, she’s coming into her own, making her team’s regional squad for the first time, and really stepping up to lead.  The fine arts are something she loves, and with our whole grade sharing, there’s this whole new group of  “music geeks” she runs around with.  Not only that, it’s ok to be a girl and be smart because there are smart, talented girls in this group.

Our youngest, a freshman, is making life miserable for us right now.  She’s watching her sister finding her place and wants that, but not in a year and a half, right now!  There will be a New Year’s Eve party hosted by one of the group my oldest daughter hangs out with, and the youngest got invited.  My wife and I went back and forth with this one for a long time, and finally said no, not because we don’t trust these kids because all in all, it’s a pretty neat group.  We said no because it’s a junior/senior party and we weren’t comfortable with her going.  Well, you’d have thought we’d chained her to the doorknob and only allowed her bread and water.   She doesn’t always see the big picture, that she’ll have these chances, only that she can’t have it right now!  While the oldest has found her group, our youngest is looking for that group right now.  She likes to be in the middle of EVERYTHING going on: good, bad, and ugly.  This tends to strain relationships, so it will take a while for her to find that place, but she will.

It’s hard to watch your kids, seeing them grow up before your eyes, knowing that they have to fail to find success.  Just like as a teacher, your first move it to catch them, keep them from hurting.  Yet, we all know, we can’t be there for everything, but we can always help soften the fall a little bit.

I’m excited to see where my kids end of as I believe that will do great things.  Yet, their greatness will cost me my hair, both in color and falling out!! I guess that’s a good trade off. 🙂