Momma, Keep the Date With Your Big Kids. You’ll Never Regret One-on-One Time…
(Inside: Big kids crave one-on-one time with their parents. It’s so important to keep our dates with them. We’ll never regret it.)
Momma, keep the date with your big kid.
Write it on the calendar and no matter how busy-tired you get, honor the date.
My teen and I were tucked on either side of the booth, brownie stuffed concretes in our hands, stacks of university pamphlets in front of us.
A few days before, we’d gone to the college fair where my teen immediately ditched me for his friends. I walked by every booth carefully selecting information. At the end of the evening, my teen had one pamphlet from a twelve-hour-away university because he said the promotion person had trapped him in a conversation. In contrast, my arms were heavy with resources. I felt like we had different goals at this college fair.
Still, we promised to sift through the pamphlets together.
A date was written on the calendar in pen, bold letters, circled.
But then crazy-busy-go-go-go, grocery-store-shopping, doctor-ortho-hair-appointments-honoring, parent-teacher-conferences-going, need-to-do-this-and-that-go-here-and-that, normal life happened. It depleted my energy and when the date night came, I wanted to just stay home. Thankfully, my logical brain kicked in, I dug deep, found some fumes, and we went out anyway.
It was spectacular.
Not my chocolate-laced ice cream.
Nor sifting through college information putting the pamphlets in three stacks of yes, no, or maybe.
Both were great, but nope.
The most magnificent, wonderful, out-of-this-world thing happened.
My son spilled out all his words.
Thoughts.
Opinions.
Stories.
What was happening at school.
How he was feeling in life.
Share, share, share.
I know many moms have chatty kids, but not me. My son holds his cards close. When he was little and came home from school, I’d sometimes offer him a lays potato chip for everything he’d tell me about the day, and I’m not even sorry about the bribery.
Oh, my, heart.
Bursting like fireworks over the river.
So many get-to-know-my-kid-deeper words flowed toward me, around me, captivating me.
The luck.
I can’t believe I almost unknowingly turned down this moment because I was too tired.
Moms of Bigs, put dates on the calendars for one-on-one time with our kids.
Then, no matter what…
No. Matter. What.
Keep the date with your big kid.
Read more in the parenting big kids series…
Parenting tweens and teens and college-age kids can be absolutely amazing. It can also be really hard. Here are some journeys that we go through and how to ease some parenting challenges…
How to Get Your Quiet Son to Open Up to You
Best Family Movies for Tweens and Teens
How to Get Your Teen/Teen to Their “Aha Moment”
Great Conversation Starters for Families of Teens
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Your brain bounces between your day at work, what time(s) your kids need to be at practice, your teen’s missing school assignments, that you haven’t called your mom lately, the load of the laundry to be switched, “What’s for dinner?” and “Why are 3 of my brain-tabs frozen?”
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Cheryl is a mom of 3 boys, wife, speaker, high school teacher, and author of Empowered Moms & Kids. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and is passionate about learning and teaching. On www.empoweredmomsandkids.com you’ll find inspiration and encouragement for moms raising tweens and/or teens. Read more in the “about” section of this page.
