Being a Teen’s Mom is a Thankless Job

Hello my friends. How have you been? I hope life has been treating you well. If not, I hope you are enduring your trials well. A lot of times, that’s the tough part.

Life has been interesting for me. I know I mentioned in a previous post last year about me going off my ADD medicine. This has made life quite challenging. As a matter of fact, turns out quitting cold turkey is not the best way to do it. I gained weight which put me into a depression…I don’t usually need help in that department. It happens naturally. So, since last May I have found it challenging just to do every day tasks. It sucks. Thus me not blogging as much. Or doing much of anything extracurricular. I began a different medication in December that is not a stimulant. It helps to some extent, but it’s still not the same. I exercise, including running my 5th half marathon ever on New Years Day. I honestly can’t imagine how I would be doing without exercise.

I haven’t mentioned on here about my oldest Daughter serving a full time mission for our church. She’s been gone a year now. I have missed her greatly despite how proud and happy I am for her choice to serve. With her gone I am here in the home with my 2 youngest kids. My middle child, my Son, is finishing up his Junior year in high school, while my youngest Daughter is finishing her seventh grade year.  Life is certainly demanding with teenagers in the home. Not only that, the world revolves around them, their rooms are constantly a nightmare. It’s definitely a thankless job being a full time family manager. To be quite blunt, I’m tired of it.

I got in a lot of trouble last night with my Son. I was getting ready for bed and next thing I know I see the angry face emoticon on my phone screen from him. I go into the living room, where he is, and ask him why he sent that. Come to find out, his friend, who is a girl, began sending him photos of him she found on my Instagram feed. “Why did you follow her? I can’t believe you did that!” he says in a loud voice.  First of all, I hardly have very many photos of him period. He doesn’t like for me to take his picture. Yet, as a mom, I don’t want him to look back at my photos and see only photos of his sisters and think I didn’t love him.  Anyway, so he began to critique his younger self and say how awful he looked and he can’t believe I haven’t deleted those photos. Oh my goodness, I can’t win for losing. For real! I mentioned one day to my son about something he wrote on his twitter account and now he has blocked me.

I pretty much do everything wrong according to my teenagers and to them I know absolutely nothing. It’s a little difficult being surrounded by people like this all the time. I have set aside half my life to raise my children, to be there for them. And now, they don’t want to have anything to do with me. It’s a little heart wrenching to say the least.

I’m at a crossroads in my life. I’m about to start a new season. I’ve decided to go back to college. It’s time to upgrade my associates degree to a bachelors degree. I need and want to be around like minded people. It’s time to have a career outside the home. I’ve been blessed to not have to work while my kids were young (although I’ve doubted that on many days.) I remember my own childhood and would have liked to have had my mom or dad around more. Yet, they did what they had to do to raise our family. But because of that, and because my husband’s salary provided enough for me to stay home, I chose to do that. I have always had the best interest of my kids in mind. Doesn’t every parent want more for their children than what they had?

I’ve been juggling in my mind what I would like to do. I know I want a trade or a career. The majority of the jobs I’ve held over my lifetime have been in sales of some kind. I’m tired of that. I want to do something creative. I got online and decided to do this career assessment to see what insight it might provide. My youngest saw me doing the assessment and asked why I was doing it. Once I told her I was going to go back to college and start a career outside the home, she flipped out. My 12 year old who is a full on teenager already was really upset. She thinks this means I will no longer be her mom. Oh my goodness…sigh…again I can’t win for losing.

We shall see what will happen. I’ll keep you posted.

Until next time,

Comments

  1. I have been there, Shannon! I promise one day they will realize all you have done and know you did it because of you love for them. I can’t promise you when, my journey started with my youngest when she was 12 and lasted 17 years. You pray, you cry, and you pray some more! Hang in there, one day it will be better! Love you!

  2. Chuck Staats says:

    Sweetie, who said one becomes a parent for “Thanks!” If your not having fun parenting change your perspective! Your job at this point in their, and your, lives, is to have as much fun as possible. You chose to become a parent & I assume you did so to enjoy ir, so enjoy it. Their job is different. Their job is to survive and learn as much as possible to help them survive and hopefully, thrive!! But that is all on them! If you want to take pictures of J, enjoy doing it. He doesn’t have to like it or want it, he just has to deal with it, and if he is mean to you, he will have to deal with his Dad, ME and Uncle Ricky! Same with A. She will deal with you going back to school whether she likes it or not, it doesn’t matter, that’s the way it goes. You have FUN going back to college!
    Love you so much!
    Dad!❤️

  3. Shan-
    I am so oooooo thrilled to hear you are going back to college! You will do GREAT at whatever you choose to do. I know it! Look at all you have already accomplished. Really! You are a great mom! Teenagers are teenagers. They will figure it out. Now worries sis! I am so proud of you! I love you! Carrie

  4. Linda Perkins says:

    Listen to your Dad! After one too many comments about what I post on FB, I unfriended my son. After a couple weeks, he was begging me to accept his friend request. You are the Mom, I know your kids have a lot of privileges, you don’t have to tolerate disrespect.

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