Thankful to not feel so alone

As you may recall I recently became the parent of a teenager. A path I am taking with great trepidation I can tell you.

On the whole I always felt myself as a rather confident parent, I rarely doubted myself and life was just peachy. In fact I was such a confident parent that I even had the nerve to write parenting advice articles.

The terrible twos and threes slipped on by without there being any of the terror that many warned me of. In fact it was quite the the opposite and were quite terrific. I continued on my merry path of parentdom rather happily, perhaps even a little smugly. All of which I was super thankful for.

Now however as I am thrown into the perils of teenagerdom it is an entirely different story. I can barely tell whether I am Arthur, Martha or something in between. My once delightful little child has transformed into some form of wildebeest that knows no reason and insists that conversation be replaced with constant battles.

The worst part is that I feel beyond alone in it all. None of my friends really have teenagers yet and the few that do seem to have a rare breed that are rather angelic. Making me feel like some kind of terrible failure because I have a child who wishes to do nothing but rebel. To make things worst most of the blogs that I stop by seem to only talk about youngsters and the troubles they are facing with them, though perhaps I just haven't looked hard enough...

All in all I can't help but feel completely and utterly alone in this new world of parenting a teen. Or at least I was for a while.

I am thankful that this delightful post from The Bumpiest Path was brought to my attention. I suddenly began to feel a little less alone and a little more filled with hope. It was the perfect gentle message that I needed to be told.

Raising a teenager is no easy feat or a walk in the park. Nor is it something that you need to go it alone. There are in fact other parents that have had their teenagers replaced with the devil incarnate. Just for some reason no one seems to talk about quite as much.

I am also thankful to another friend, who while does not have a teenager right now, she has been there and done that and in a few short years will be going through it all again. She told me of Kevin Leman and how she is looking into some of his ideas to help her through. I too found some possible ways forward after listening to this father of five accomplished children for a bit. Though it will still not make it a walk in the park.

So this Thursday I am thankful that it has taken till now for me to feel like such a failure as a parent. I am also thankful that deep down I do know that I am not really a failure. Despite her awfulness at times there are glimmering moments where Lovely still lives up to her name.

I am thankful that I have a strong ship that will hopeful be able to weather this storm, even if it may last for many a year. It appears as if it is just a case of battening down the hatches and hoping for the best.

What are you thankful for this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

Snapshots of Us Week 3

As I mentioned last week I love the idea of making sure I take at least one photo of the girls each and every week, just linking in with Practising Simplicity's The 52 Project didn't feel right. There was something about all those children's faces on the link up screen that didn't sit well with me. Especially as it was clearly not a community that shared some comment love.

After much thought and consideration I have finally come up with a way round it. I am just going off and doing my own thing. So I give to you Snapshots of Us. 

It has been a week of torrential downpours here so when the sun decided to shine we made the most of it and jumped on our bikes and head down to the foreshore for a fish 'n' chip lunch and a play at the playground.

Teapot going round and round and round

 Zany, also going round and round

And you guessed it, Lovely, going round and round

Me and Mr Awesome, not going round and round

Thankful Thursday

Hello and welcome to another edition of Thankful Thursday. Which just between you and me could well be my most favourite day of the week. Thank you to all those who link in a post and share their thanks and super big thanks to everyone who stops by and has a read.

image found here

Last night I somehow managed to swangle Lovely into going for a run. Well actually she thought she was swangling me by offering to go for a run with me in the hope that it would see her iDevice returned to her hot little hands. You know on account of not being able to run without music. A plight that while I understand I know is not actually the case.

So run without music we did.

Well at times we ran, on and off. Her reluctance was great but my determination won the day. And there was even a part of me that was glad not to have my regular tunes blasting into my ear drums. Oh how have times change.

As crazy as it may sound it was something I was a bit fearful of. I may have been concerned that without music I simply couldn't run. A tragedy I nearly had to face a few months ago when my phone started going haywire and I thought I lost all my music, just as I was heading out for a run no less. It was all a bit melodramatic but in the end the songs showed up and I was able to run off into the sunset. So to speak.

I am thankful that I made myself get out moving. I have been making excuses for far too long. Including oh I can't go for a run because I don't have a running band for my precious new phone (aka music maker and distance checker).

Though it is not just yesterday that I am thankful I made myself get up and move. It is the very first day that I decided to try and see if I could actually run. Running really did so many wonderful things for me, both physically and emotionally. I am thankful that I started and I am thankful it is always something I can turn too.

I am even more thankful that I managed to drag Lovely along with only minimal protest. I wish there was a way I could make her understand how many different ways she will benefit by having a good relationship with exercise from an early age.

Mind you if we are talking things I wish I could just make children magically understand from an early age the list would be a mile long and my job as parent would be made redundant I guess.

With the return of school next week the last few days of this week will be consumed with preparations and purchases of school supplies. I am thankful that the government provides us with vouchers to help cover some of the costs. Mind you it can only be used at the school and not for fees so it is not like I have a wide choice on what to get. As much as it is a case of Peter stealing to pay Paul at least it means we can get new uniforms without having to physically hand over cash. For which I am super thankful for. Especially in this particularly tight week.

While on the topic of school and education I must give thanks to all those teachers and support staff in our schools. Being employed in the education department, is no easy feat. They are after all the main shapers of tomorrows adults.

But enough of what I am thankful for, let's hear your thanks,

Snapshots of Us Week 1

It is ridiculously early here. And by that I mean just gone 5.30. Which alright, is not quite stupid o'clock but it is not far from it especially for a Sunday.

I have been awake for over an hour, there was a little person (Zany) who decided that my bed was far more comfortable than her own. Which she is incredibly right about. It is. I know because I tried laying in it after she invaded mine. Mental note to look for an online bedding company to sponsor me. 

Anyway, here I am gleefully in front of my beloved Mac surrounded by silence. Save for the old gently breeze and left over rain drops from the last monsoonal downpour.

As I began wondering through my various feeds seeing who had posted what since last I dropped in I came across Karen's post for today. I too have often thought of trying to keep track of regular snap shots but for whatever reason (probably my laziness) it just never happens.

Amazingly this week saw me snapping a few shots of the girls while we were checking out the big waves on the jetty. Which means I am able to join in this week with Practising Simplicity's The 52 Project

Zany looking out to sea to see how far she could not see

Lovely, contemplating whether she has what it takes to be a model

Teapot, just doing what she does, making my heart melt

 I am still contemplating whether I will go back and post for weeks one and two of the project. It is not like I am adverse to back dating posts if the need arises. Particularly if it encourages me to complete a challenge. Either way I hope I remember to take a few snaps so I will be back next week.