I was recently having a conversation with a friend of mine, when she dropped a bombshell on me, “You know you are going to have teenagers for the next 18 years.” SAY WHAT?!? “Hold on,” I told her while frantically doing the math in my head. She was right. My youngest is two and the rest of them are spaced just perfectly to keep me in teenagers for a long time. I have already had one teenager for 3 years and I added another when my second son turned 13 in December.
Trying to wrap my head around this fact, I then realized that my husband and I have only been married for 17 years. We are going to be navigating turbulent, hormonal, waters for longer than we have been trying to learn this marriage thing! I feel tired.
Up until my, (now former friend) pointed this out to me, my big child rearing goal was to survive the toddler years and get all my children completely potty-trained. Somehow this teenage thing had escaped my notice. Although when my friends ask how I’m doing, I tell them I am driver-training and potty-training and everything in between.
We are blessed to have pretty good kids though, and so far they seem to be on the right track. It is tricky to stay “Mom,” but also move into a more advisory role and let them stumble here and there. I try to remind them that they are actually young adults, and that this is a great time to learn about getting along in a big world while they still have a safety net under them.
As for me, well, I have to remind myself daily, sometimes minute by minute, that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” even raise teenagers for another 18 years!
P.S. For all my friends that might want to tell me about what comes after teenagers, no thank you! Sometimes ignorance is bliss.