Nov 07 2008
Every child is unique…embrace it
I was talking to a co worker yesterday about my daughter and how it seems like children these days have an attitude at such an earlier age. They have no problem talking back, eye rolling, etc. All those things that when we were children were guaranteed to get us a butt whooping. She came up with the theory that girls were much harder to raise when they hit the ages of 11 to 19, while boys tend to hit the hard years at age 16 and up.
It got me to thinking about each of my children and their personalities. My youngest son is still growing into his, but if I had to label him with anything, he would be my daredevil, my fearless one. He jumps in head first, and then asks questions. My older son is my quiet child, my sensitive soul. He is also a mini genius, and lord knows where he got that, because it was not me. Then there is my oldest. She is my helper, my mini me. She has creative ideas, and loves to make crafts out of almost anything.
They also each have their own faults, and if we are going to be honest about it, we all do. My youngest is the wild child, the one you constantly have to tell to use his indoor voice, and to settle it down some. My older son is a little too quick to have his feelings hurt, and his attention wanders if he is bored. And then there is my daughter. I love her to death, she was my first child, my only daughter, but heaven help me there are some days I wish she was a baby again.
What gets me the most is the “I think the world revolves around me, and I want more more more” attitude. I hear myself telling her “no” so many times a day, and it’s usually repeat questions. When I talk about her to people, I tell them she is 11 going on 18, and that’s exactly how I feel. Some days I feel as if the only conversation we have is me telling her no, and her rolling her eyes, sighing in that exasperating tone, and her stomping to her room. Hopefully this is a stage we get over soon.
I still feel so very lucky to have three children with such different personalities. One who is still a mom cuddler, one who is so good at reading people, and one who is a great helper. It is so much joy to watch them each day come up with something new, or even just sit and watch them interact with each other.
As with anything, parenting has it’s ups and downs, we just have to appreciate them all, and learn from them. It’s what truly makes us a good parent.
Like your blog today. I’ve got a ten year old girl testing me right now.
Kelly
http://scrapgirl.today.com
Lord my son who is 19 is way worse than my daughter who is 12.
I really enjoyed reading this post and the rest of your blog. I have only one child, a 10 year old girl. Although she tries to test my patience every now and then, she’s a good kid. She is my “mini me”, too and I sometimes see traces of my own personality in her. We talk all the time, but I have started noticing a few changes that I can attribute to puberty being so close. She doesn’t roll her eyes or anything, but she has this annoying habit of slumping her shoulders whenever I tell her she can’t do something. I’m interested in seeing what she’ll do when puberty arrives.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. Take care.
AMEN to Robin’s comment. I have four girls and one boy and lemme just say - he is the WORST and he’s only 14. It has nothing to do with how he was raised or anything like that either.
I also have a 14, 12, 10 and 9 year old girl and they are easy as pie. In addition one of my dear friends had one of both and her daughter was FAR easier than her son. I always say that whoever says girls are harder never had a boy!
Good luck - they do get better, it just takes a lot of patience and time….oh so much time. :)