So today is Good Friday....and it is the first Good Friday that we have not all been home together doing Eastery stuff.
Miss 17 is doing work placement at the Easter Show (she has to complete work placement hours to complete her Entertainment course for the HSC) and has a shift today and tomorrow.
I know it's nothing major but it just led me to thinking about how this will be the way of the future for us with our eldest turning 18 this year.
We are entering uncharted territory for us as parents. We've had a lot of practice at the newborn thing, we've coped with the toddler stages and we've managed some sort of routine in the school years.
But this will be different.
This will be the stage where we have to let go more and put a lot of trust in the fact that we have taught the girls well enough for them to make good choices.
This stage scares the sh*t out of me!!!!!
There'll be more days that used to be spent together now being spent apart as the girls develop more independence, get jobs and having growing circles of friends.
There'll be boys and cars and boys driving cars. There'll be access to alcohol, potentially access to drugs. There'll be people that we don't know, places we haven't been. There'll be night clubs, pubs, parties......can you hear me freaking out a little!!!!!
Thankfully at the moment Miss 17 is just focused on the HSC, school and soccer. But when the HSC is done a whole new world will await and a whole new stage of parenting will begin.
Wish me luck....I'm way scared!!!
Have you parented through this stage yet or is it still to come for you?
Do you have any tips for me?
I'm way scared for you! Oh I can very much wait for those days.
ReplyDeleteThank you Karin...we can be scared for me together lol !!!
DeleteWe don't have kids but this would be the thing that would scare me senseless if I did. I've seen how my own mum worried about me as I grew up, in fact, she still does and I'm almost 44! Cripes! I'm scared for you too. If it's any consolation, I'm sure you'll be totally chilled by the time your youngest hits 18. By then, you'llhave had years of practice! x
ReplyDeleteHaha yes Sammie...by the time the fifth one gets there we'll be like whatever!! I think I'll still worry about them when they are 44 too!!
DeleteInterestingly enough, last night my husband and some of his friends were out at his parents' last night (I stay with them during the week & husband came up for his dad's Easter performance). They were all laughing about the drinking and drugging and shenanigans of their youth and how his parents didn't know about any of it. His dad jumped in and said, "Do you think I was that stupid? I was always watching you - even when you weren't here, I knew. And I let you think you were getting over on me because I knew you weren't in any real danger and if you had been, I'd have stepped in. We trusted y'all to not be dumbasses, and you're not."
ReplyDeleteThey are all pretty well-adjusted and productive members of society - some parents with their own worries. Sometimes we lose our way a little bit but when we have a good foundation, we find our way back. They'll be fine...and if our parents are any indication, so will you ;)
Good advice Jen...thank you !
DeleteI too have an 18 nearly 19 year old daughter, and it is most definitely a difficult time for parents, letting them fly from the nest for the first time as adults. However, I can now speak with a little experience and say, that if you have taught them well, they cope quite well. Certainly we are all individual and times will trial them, but, I really find with the good base to come back too, they find their way. xxx
ReplyDeleteI am really glad to hear that Nicole. I guess we are at the stage where if we have taught them well then all will be well!! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteThat stage is a long way off for me. My eldest has just started school! As long as you have prepared them and trust that they will do the right thing, it should be alright. I remember my mum was so strict on me and what I could do, that I just rebelled in a big way. I won't be like that with my kids. I will trust them until they do something that makes me question that trust. Good luck, it sounds like your eldest is on the right track anyhow by focusing on her studies x
ReplyDeleteBelieve me Fleur it feels like she just started school yesterday!!
DeleteMy parents were strict too...mainly because they were much older...but we always found away to do what we wanted so I know that teenagers will find a way! You're right...all you can do is teach them right and wrong and then put our trust in them.