So this month my youngest celebrates a birthday and she is approaching the ‘oh so pleasant’ teen years. I cannot overstate that the hormones have already kicked in and the mood-swings, attitude and complete disregard for parental authority have comfortably settled into her whole persona and she is, as you can imagine, an absolute delight to be around. I guess I remember being a challenge at this age and so I try to be patient and understanding and I find that wine helps. (for me)
She is sort of beyond the age for parties but we do honor her special day with some family dinners and she will invite a friend or two. The main hurdle has always been the guest list because, not surprisingly, deep into the summer months, few families are still in the City. But she found a couple of soccer buddies kicking around and now the issue is, ‘what would they like to do’? If you read last month’s post, this is the same kid who was mortified that I signed her up for some summer school camps and although she has been enjoying most of them, she is still supremely dubious of my ability to ‘relate’ to her demographic and arrange suitable entertainment for her friends. It’s not like I don’t ask, research or consult my favorite Pinterest board but apparently my ideas still elicit the rolling eye-balls accompanied by the giant exhale of breath and a certain slackness of body that would suggest she has been physically wounded by my inane suggestions. What’s a Mom to do? Well, out-source obviously. I asked the 15 year old to come up with some distractions and her ideas were evidently even worse judging by the strangled cry of exasperation that emitted from her after 20 minutes straight of fiercely vetoed suggestions. That made me feel better actually…
Whatever, I give up. They can take a soccer ball to the park and come back to eat when they are hungry. Or not. Pre-teens are so complicated.
I will let you know how it goes.