We had a nice day yesterday but it didn’t start off well. Mother and I had a confrontation with Alesia at breakfast. She has been wildly moody lately, and rude. Mother lost it and yelled at her, and I yelled a bit, too. We don’t tolerate rudeness, at all.
I do not think teens should be allowed to get away with rudeness; it just breeds more of it.
I later calmed down and we talked, but I am not sure if I really got through to her. It’s so hard to explain things to her sometimes. The fact she’s 18 and acts 15 is really problematic. She wants to go running around with her friends all the time and I don’t trust her judgment. I insist on not allowing her to run around without me knowing who she’s with, where she’s going, and who is driving. I usually insist on taking her and picking her up. She gets mad.
When I was 18 my parents could pretty much trust me not to do anything stupid. I have a hard time with Alesia because she is so easily influenced by other kids, kids who don’t have my values. She also has memory issues that interfere with learning. I have to tell her something 25 times before she remembers it.
For instance, last night I was making dinner and helping Mike with a health assignment to write about drug and alcohol addiction. I pointed out that children of alcoholics are much more like to become alcoholics. She was at the computer and heard this and said “Really? You never told me that.” I have told her that, many times. She has a terrible memory. I reiterated that she and Michael must NEVER, ever drink anything, not even a beer, because they are so vulnerable to alcoholism.
We talk all the time about not drinking, not doing drugs if they are offered, not engaging in risky behaviors of all sorts. They get tired of my lectures but I keep on, anyway, because I have to try.
She also thinks I am weird because I won’t let her “hang out” with kids whose parents I don’t know.
We went to Michael’s yesterday [the crafts store] and I bought Alesia a kit so she can make jewelry. She came home and made several pieces, and seemed in a good mood the rest of the day.
The temperatures were beautiful, in the upper 60’s. I actually went to walk yesterday afternoon, late, with Michael by me on roller skates. The new prosthetic had rubbed a sore place on his arm, probably from 2 hours of bike riding Saturday, so I told him to just leave off the prosthetic and let his arm recover.
My prayers last night were all about guidance, and protecting my daughter. It’s never easy parenting a teen, I know, but I worry about my daughter being so emotionally naïve and vulnerable.
