My Teenage Daughter: Raising Each Other.

My teenage daughter and I attended her open house for high school the week prior to her starting school. As I met each of her teachers, I offered my cell phone number and told each one my daughter can be a little sociable at times, so if I need to redirect her I am only a phone call away. I had mentioned this to three of her teachers and before I could say the same spiel to the fourth teacher my daughter uttered, “Mommy can I just have a fresh start without you telling all my teachers that I am very sociable?” I replied “Fair enough.” From that moment we agreed to not share my earlier sentiments with her teachers if she promised that she would deliver on her fresh start. The first day of school, (time for a fresh start), I am dropping my daughter off. As we pull into the carpool she begins to cry. News flash!!! I am not the parent to get emotional and cry, I am the parent who laughs and will ask “Why are you crying?” and then say “ But, you look cute though.” I know, I know, I can use some work on my parental communication. My eldest daughter is my token child and by that I mean I take my experiences with her to correct my experiences with my other children. She is also the daughter that I feel like we are learning and raising each other. She recently helped me with my wardrobe. We bought new high waist jeans for me, aka mom jeans, and she inherited all my low waisted jeans. My daughter and I balance each other out…she cries, I laugh.  When I go high she goes low only when it comes to jeans :). I didn’t totally brush my daughter’s emotions off. I am always analyzing my children, trying to understand why they do the things they do. My analysis of the tears on the first day of high school is, in my opinion, it was a buildup of emotions. My daughter had a rough time during her middle school years. From me receiving a phone call in Italy of an altercation in the cafeteria, to her crashing my BMW in a grocery store parking lot at 14… (that’s for another blog post). The last two years have been eventful! Even at my daughter’s young age, she recognizes the opportunity to put the past behind her and get a second chance to be “Great”. It can be intimidating at times, but it is euphoric.