Happiness

I read in a blog (71toes.com) something about how to get along with your teenagers that I really liked.  The author spoke about “returning the volley” to our kids. When they are babies we are interested in what they are interested in. We say “that’s a cow” and “it says Moo” and the child says “Moo”. We say “yay!! Right!!” She suggests we do the same with our teenagers. Yesterday Asher commented- “the food I’ve been eating is so bland, I just want to cook something nice!” “Ok” I said “go for it.” He decided on crepes (one of his favorites), checked to see if we had some ingredients and then we had a discussion on how to separate the egg yolks and how they felt so weird when they did. All this from my 14- almost 15- year old. It was amazing to watch. I love my teenagers! They make me so happy- especially when they get along with each other. They aren’t perfect, but hey, no one is, right?!

Dear Teenagers (all 4 of you),       I didn’t know my life would be so great with you guys around. You laugh, you joke, you wrestle. You watch the Great British Baking show together and vote for your favorite. You watch Studio C every Monday night and laugh at the corny sketches. You play video games together and cheer each other on- when you win and shout whether you lose or win.. You cheer on person with the newest braces and check them out. You (Elizabeth) fall in love with a boy and write his initials all over the hand out for Family Home Evening. I love being a Mom of Teenagers. It’s hard and you don’t like getting your picture taken very often because you aren’t sure of how you look. You can squabble and tussle. You wake up at 4 am to go to the Temple. You make sure everyone is treating me right and for the most part, you gobble up dinner and asks for thirds. And that’s the best part of it all. Thank you, guys, for making my life amazing. Love, Mom