Revisiting Teenager Territory

My oldest child is 12.

Her name is Maggie. Maggie Elyse to be exact.

Maggie was my nickname as a girl and I let my sister choose her middle name. (with my approval of course) She chose Elyse, which is the German form of Alice. Maggie fits her name.

Maggie, is not like me in a lot of ways, and a little like me in some ways. She has enjoyed her childhood and keeping her at home has kept her innocence longer then if she was in with a pack of girls that are up to date on our world’s society.
Maggie has matured a lot in the last six months. On top of some mental maturity, she has also grown physically! I had to go get her a new wardrobe! She is growing, in more ways than one. She will be a teenager in just eight short months. They call her age now, tweens.

Am I scared about her entering teenage territory? No. I know there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop the next day from happening, nothing I can do to stop her from becoming a young adult. I know that if I am training her every day to walk towards who Christ has made her to be, If I am recognizing when things are not right, if I pray for her heart and the choices she makes when I am or more importantly when I am not there, She will become a young lady that I will bring joy to the lives around her.

Will she make mistakes? You bet. Has she made whoppers of mistakes already? Yes. I am determined as one wise soul has said to, “train them till you like them!” I will train her, and I am determined to like my teenage daughter. I will always love her, but liking her is going to require more effort. Lord give me strength!

We have a few days here and there that are a little lumpy. I don’t understand a lot of why she acts or does what she does, because I was not like her. in many ways. God gave me Maggie because he knew that I would be the best mother for her. I can not look at her as what I am getting out of this relationship, otherwise, (I would have quit my job yesterday.) I have to look at her as a blessing given to Chris and I that is being developed and chiseled into a beautiful, talented young lady (and that one day will be choosing my nursing home!) You can laugh at that last comment, though you know its very true!

Ebb and Tide, back and forth, two steps forward and one step back. A new day of training begins tomorrow. And what we learned today, will move our lives forward, to tackle new problems and issues.

Parents can’t ever be off their game or the kids? They will start driving the family car down the street into the neighbor’s garage door and thru fences. and when that happens, uh…do I really need to describe how bad it can get?

~Prudence