Oh the joys

of parenting a teenager. a teenage girl and a tweenage boy. One of each, each with their own personalities, idiosyncrasies, pet peeves, breaking points.

My daughter has her first boyfriend. From what I can tell he seems to be a good boy. I say it this way because for the first month or so she completely hid the fact from us. I realized something was up and had to become "Mom the Investigator."

It was a hard, very hard couple of months. It has settled down and I'm hopeful that she has learned some lessons in truth telling and in what she can expect from her parents. I know I have.

Kindergarten: very hands on parenting and lots of parental involvement in education, friendships and activities.

Elementary school: still quite a bit of parental involvement, lessening over the years. At least I know who my children's friends are, where they are and what they are doing for the most part.

Jr HS: much less communication between the school and the parent. less communication between the parent and the child. I'm pretty sure of where my kids are, who their friends are and what they are doing.

High School: this will be new territory. Just getting into a high school will be quite the adventure, but most of it up to the teenager. Parents are pretty much hands off by this point. Schools are farther away, parents don't know or have the chance to interact with their friends' parents much.

In my ideal family my children would never tell lies, would always obey with a smile on their face (never a roll of the eyes), have wonderful friends and get straight A report cards. Ideals and reality are not the same.

----------

Several of my pages recently have been inspired by these tumultuous past few months.

 all papers and elements from The Bard Collection by ViVa Artistry

 papers and elements from Blue by ViVa Artistry
page overlay from Superimposition: Her also by ViVa Artistry

 

 most elements and papers from Clothier Collection
stamps used include Clothier Collection, Note It, Quirky Originals
paper alpha is from In Such a Hurry
stamped alpha is Half Painted

made with Superimposition: She said, He said Add-ons by ViVa Artistry
The Bard Collection also by ViVa Artistry

My other pages have been piling up. So I'll just add them here in random order.

 all papers and elements from At First Sight by ViVa Artistry at Scrapbook Graphics
page template by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs

 everything here from Fantoccini by Viva Artistry
page template from Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs

 everything here from Almost Spring by Etc by Danyale
except photo edges which are by Nancy Comelab
template is from Boom Da Doom Doom by Amber Morrison

all papers and elements from Coffee Tea or Me by Polka Dot Pixels
page template is from {My Heart Goes} Boom Da Doom Doom by Amber Morrison

Sorry I've been so slack about updating my poor little neglected blog lately. Mojo slip and just .... just.

Thank you always so much for stopping by, and for your warm comments. In the words of the Terminator, "I'll be back."