Having a teenager is like reading a whole new book

“I like this new book. It’s interesting and fascinating”

Keeping hydrated while shopping

Having a teenager is not only a new chapter in your life, it’s like reading a whole new book. With our teenage daughter we see that she is building her own life. She is becoming more independent, developing her own strong ideas about things and just doing her own thing. But don’t get me wrong, I like this new book. It’s interesting and fascinating.

Being a typical teenager she can be a bit oblivious and clumsy. For instance, a while ago there was a glass and a plate with food leftovers on my daughter’s bed that she didn’t clean up and our cat Mila was eating and licking the crumbles from it. You must know that Mila can not eat anything other than her own food otherwise she gets diarrhea. And Mila is a very fluffy ragdoll with a very fluffy bum. So it wasn’t the first time that we had to shower her and clean her bum.

Let her own her mistakes and own her successes 

“When you do things for the first time, it doesn’t always work out or go well right away”

 

Home made pizza from scratch

With everything we keep in mind that she is a teenager, with a teenage brain which is still developing. She is still learning a lot and experiencing things for the first time. And when you do things for the first time, it doesn’t always work out or go well right away. For instance with cooking. My daughter loves to cook. Baking pancakes, cookies, pizzas, making sandwiches on the panini grill and trying recipes of Tik Tok or Pinterest. In the beginning things got burned, things got broken, things were spilled and ingredients were missing. In the end we just had a laugh about it together and took things lightly. We let her experience it herself and support and help her. This way she can own her mistakes, learn from them, but then also own her successes and achievements.

Giving a hug that says: ‘I know it’s hard, but you don’t have to deal with it alone. I’m here for you’

When you have a toddler you can just kiss and hug all the problems away. But with a teenager this doesn’t help in every difficult situation anymore. Yes I still hug her a lot, but the problem is still there after a hug. But with that hug I’m saying ‘I know it’s hard, but you don’t have to deal with it alone. I’m here for you, I’m here to help’. 

“Be there for her while she is going through it and help her to put things in perspective”

 

The cats are always there for moral support when it’s study time 🙂

Halfway through the second term of her first year in high school she was feeling very stressed about all the exams she was preparing for. I suggested she would stay home for the day and not go to school, so she would have more time to study for her exams. She said she didn’t want to miss school and stay behind, that would only give her more stress. Then what else is there that I can do for her? Cook her favorite meal, be there for her while she is going through it and help her to put things in perspective.

Doing nice and fun things outside from school

High School can be very busy and demanding, but that’s just the way it is, I can not change that for her. But what I can do is make sure she has nice and fun things to do outside school, like a sport. My daughter plays volleyball two times a week and playing volleyball is all about having a good time. It’s about focussing, practicing and improving something that she likes and chooses to do. And the exercise is also good for her physical health and mental well being.

Our loving and warm hearted daughter

She also often meets with friends to go to a movie, to the beach, to go shopping and she even visited her first festival. When we pick her up or when she is with friends we see a young, brave and independent developing young adult. And that makes me so proud! And it also makes me proud that when it’s just the three of us, she is still all of that, but she is also our loving and warm hearted daughter who gives hugs, does funny dances and faces, and jokes around.