Learn How To Survive/Thrive Teen Years at Mom-Daughter Workshop
What if teenage daughters could see their mothers as a great ally as they grew up and became independent? What if mothers could create safety for a teen daughter’s experience of herself, consciously guiding her to be who she was born to be?
What?! Sign me up!
Being a mom of a teen daughter is challenging, especially in today’s culture with a barrage of social media, peer pressure, and everyday stress that forces girls to grow up too fast. Moms ride a rollercoaster of emotions with our mini me’s. We are each other’s worst enemy and then best ally in the time it takes to get a spa pedicure.
If only there was a parenting manual on how to navigate our way through middle school, high school, and beyond. A resource that is as relevant and timely for moms as it is to our impressionable daughters so that we are both thinking on the same page. Wait a minute…there is such a book that speaks to us. It’s called Mothering and Daughtering. Keeping Your Bond Strong Through The Teen Years. Better yet, the co-authors are mom-daughter duo Sil and Eliza Reynolds, who live in The Big Apple and will be here in St. Louis next weekend as part of the Girls In The Know (GITK) mom-daughter empowerment celebration. Girls, it’s about to get real!
For sure, the mother-daughter relationship is the most complex one of all, and perhaps no one understands the dynamics of this erratic dance better than Sil and Eliza who collaborated on this bestseller. When it comes to surviving and thriving the rocky adolescent years and into adulthood, this mom-daughter duo has been there, done that. For the last 10 years, they have travelled the country, from the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in New York to the Esalen retreat center in California, inspiring moms and their preteen daughters to “meet in the middle†and create a deeper, more meaningful relationship. And they also know girls just wanna have fun—so they have planned an engaging weekend of ritual, storytelling, art, and exercises in communication that will no doubt create special memories. Through creative strategies and games, moms and their daughters will learn new ways of being together in mutual respect and love—and have a blast!
A Letter To Justin Bieber
Dear J.B.,
Is it ok if I call you J.B.? I’ve watched you go through puberty in front of my very eyes. That must be why I feel comfortable referring to you by your initials, J.B., even though your real name is Justin Drew Bieber.
As the voyeuristic world watches your tragic downward spiral that led to your recent DUI arrest, I’m sticking by your side, as any good mom would do with her own child. Some reporters speculate your bizarre behavior and verbal rampage with the cops might be a marketing scheme to change your pop star image to be the quintessential bad boy. Everyone has their opinion. But I think you’re crying out for help. Then again, I’m a mom. You’re following the same footsteps of so many other troubled young celebs—Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes to name a few in your generation.
I wonder what your mom is going through right now as her son’s smiling mug shot dominates the national news and gains more media coverage than the terrorist threats in the Sochi winter Olympics.
Counting Down to College
Next weekend, my son Jack will move into his college dorm as a freshman, and mark the beginning of a new stage in his life and mine, too. As a parent, this is the day I have tried to prepare him to spread his wings and fly out of the nest. Never mind the fact that mama bird is feeling a bit emotional, like the first day I dropped him off at preschool (multiplied by one thousand).
Of course I’m excited for him. He has worked really hard to get good grades, score decent on his ACT, and write an impressive resume and college essay. He deserves this time to explore his freedom, take on new challenges, and meet new people. My biggest concern is that he sleeps into the afternoon or falls out of his loft bed.
