To The Highschool Students

This blog is to every teenager who has ever said, "My kids will never act like that." Or to the one who has said "I will never..." Oh just you wait Mr. and Miss Young Mind because you will. You can sit there and shake your head as I haul 2 misbehaving children out of a play, and say the "I will nevers" all you want, but my dear you will. You will do all those things you said you never would.

Oh teenagers, life is so simple now (although you don't think so), but one day you will find yourself being a tired mom who no longer cares if her kids are wearing socks. You will leave your house early not having showered. You will throw a coat on and haul your kid out to the bus braless. You will be so bedraggled and tired some days that you won’t leave your couch, and you hand your kids the remote. There will be days where all you want to do is cry. There will be days where you don’t think you can do it anymore. Parenting is hard!

But dear teenager there will be times when you look at your child and realize you would not change it for the world. It might not be the parental paradise that you imagined, but it will be its own kind of paradise. You will find joy in the little things. You will laugh as your child tries to catch butterflies. You will cry when your autistic daughter comes home and is actually able to tell you what she did at school. You will watch their first dance recital. You will cry as the bus takes them away for their very first day of school. You will watch your child grow and succeed, and those little moments are so worth it.

So teenagers, before you throw the dirty looks at a tired mom or make a smart remark under your breath, remember in ten years it will be you. One day you will be the tired mom hauling a child out of an event. I will see you, and I will smile. Maybe I will even help you to the car, and tell you how amazing you are. Because you are just that, amazing.