Rah Times

I received a letter from my daughter yesterday saying, she had cried for three hours the day before she wrote that letter. Previously to that I got one saying, the program she was at was not as hard as they made it out to be. All the girls did was stretches, and it was the boys that the drills were being taught to. In that letter, she stated that the boys were being treated harshly but the girls as if they were their own children. It was beyond me why that was a terrible thing. Now she wrote, I am in need of love and affection, but now I am not getting any. Besides she said, I have serious separation anxiety issues and it is extremely difficult being away from you. This is the one thing I can identify with. Even at eighteen years old when I decided to leave home to follow after my dreams, I remember how difficult it was. I also wanted to return to my parents, but my care-taker would not hear of it. At one point, I called my mother crying, telling her to come to my rescue because I ne...

On Friday, we drove six hours to drop off our beautiful daughter at Texas ChalleNGe Academy. I was a bit apprehensive. I had made this awful decision because I am so determined to ensure that this child achieve academic success. This school would be a lot different from all the private school she attended in the past. This is like military school, and it will be extremely disciplined and tough. When we got to the facility, they had the parents stand in a separate line from the cadets. Parents were instructed to go on another line where paper work was reviewed to make sure all was in order. My husband carried my daughter's bag from the car, and while we were on line waiting to enter the building. At the appointed moment, he gave it to her. Students were to carry their own bags. As my husband placed one of the bags on her back, she started to drift backwards. "I will not be able to carry this," she said. "You will have to," he told her. "That is what th...

Every stage of parenting comes with new and different challenges. For me, the most fun years were when my children were infants. It is true that, at this stage, I had countless sleepless nights, but this was the stage when they least exerted their self will. The toddler years were a little frustrating because they could not effectively communicate and displayed their frustrating by throwing tantrums. The school age years were exceptionally busy because they were learning and discovering new things and I had to be there to help them follow through on tasks. The teen years are proving to be the most challenging. My teenagers do not always effectively communicate, and the most noteworthy thing, in their life, seems to be interacting with their peers. While they all have goals, and things they are working on. The majority of their energy seems to be about having friends and being with their friends to the point where I believe other areas of their life is being neglected. Not wanting to b...

It is not an easy task to re-establish trust once it is broken. However, things and people do change with time and circumstances. I retrieved my daughter from juvenile on Monday. I was extremely happy that I was finally able to bring her home, but at the same time, I was apprehensive. As difficult as this has been, it has simultaneously been a learning experience. In the past two days as anxious and apprehensive as I have been, I have also made a conscious effort to be gracious to her. The last thing I want is for her to feel unwelcome in her own home. The exact first thing I did for her was to wash and condition her hair. Regardless of my daughters ages they all still enjoy my washing their hair for them. After I had finish applying the conditioner, she went off to her bathroom to rinse, and then to blow dry it. At that same moment, it occurred to me that there was something I need to say to her. As I walked towards her room, I heard movement in her sister adjacent room. I was a lit...

Last year was a particularly difficult one but given all that, it ended with us having loads of fun, and creating beautiful memories with my children. A few days before the holidays I was struggling with preparing for the holidays. Fortunately for me, my husband took a few days off and helped. He assisted with deciding what gifts we should purchase for our children. I was extremely fatigued from dealing with my sixteen year old daughter's issues. As simply on deciding what gifts to purchase, I was struggling with that. In addition, my seventeen year old daughter got injured during a basketball practice. Fortunately her injury was more traumatic for me than it was for her. Somehow, despite my being overwhelmed, I was able to put all that aside and we ended the year in a truly pleasant and pleasing manner. It had long been my desire to take our children on a skiing vacation. The blizzard of the North East worked favorably for us. The day after Christmas, as the snow started to c...