Tag Archives: Grace

Parenting a Preteen

Anxiety, Kids, Parenting

I was sitting with my small group ladies (whom I love by the way), and some of them were discussing potty training.  I hated potty training.  Then I found my mind drifting to the new “bathroom conversations” I have now with my daughter.

Periods and bras and pimples and WHO SAID I WAS READY TO PREPARE HER FOR THIS???

We haven’t reached all of these milestones, if you will, but we have been talking about them (good heavens, have we been talking about them) so that we are ready when the time comes.  Parenting a preteen is serious business.

My … Read the rest

Open House – Officially Starting Middle School

Anxiety, Kids, Parenting, School

Tonight was yet another first for me in this parenting gig: middle school open house.  Allow me to set the scene…

The gym was set up with tables around the perimeter with each elective, club, sport, and music option represented.  They each had a teacher or coach, and an information sheet available for the students.  After making the round, a current 6th grader took you on a tour of the 2nd floor, which is almost exclusively used by 6th graders.

Here is what I learned tonight…

She gets to start choosing the smaller paths of her life.  I let Grace … Read the rest

First Day of School Anxiety

Anxiety, Parenting, School

As parents I think we sometimes get so busy down in the trenches of where we are currently that we forget to stand up and take a look around.  Right now Grace is in a rough patch, and if I stay down in this trench parenting her it can feel like we don’t make any progress.

Last night I was thinking back to last summer when she was filled with first day of school anxiety: starting a new year with a new teacher, new classroom, and potentially all new kids.  I had to take her in to meet her teacher … Read the rest

A Letter to My Daughter

Kids

Happy Birthday, Heather Grace!  Ten years ago I was blissfully in labor with a wonderfully face, sleeping 2strong epidural.  At 6:15am on Monday, July 28, 2003 I became a momma to the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.

You slept well, you were happy, you followed all of the Baby Wise instructions.

You were musical before you could talk – whistling before you were one, singing a melody before you could talk, clapping on two and four better than most adults.

And just like that you’re a preteen.  I actually had to google that to verify.  I’ve never been the parent … Read the rest

Best Therapy Appointment Ever

Kids, Parenting

Diving right in…

After thirty minutes of talking in the therapist’s office, we moved to the “play therapy” room per Grace’s request.  Grace gets to play in the sand table and I get to talk to the therapist. Win-win.  I told the therapist that in my weak moments I am in a place where I’m ready for Grace to be on medication because I want her to be happy.  I want her to be able to handle life.  I want her to be a care-free nine-year-old girl!  In my heart I know we aren’t ready for this, but sometimes I’m … Read the rest

Fear of the unknown

Kids, Parenting

I had an “a-ha” moment at Grace’s counseling session the other night.  Well, more accurately, it was an, “A-ha!  Oh wait, duh” moment.

Grace doesn’t like unknowns.  I took her into school the week before it started so she could meet her teacher (cross off fears Is my teacher nice? and Will my teacher like me?).  She got to explore the classroom and take a look at the class roster (cross off fear Will I have any friends in my class?).  By the end of our time there, her mood had changed from dread to anticipation.  She can’t handle blanks.… Read the rest

My first baby is NINE!

Kids

Grace turned nine on Saturday!  She is kind, generous, compassionate, and tender-hearted.  She is SO musical.  She is starting to make lists like a champ, though sometimes the list content makes me take deep breaths.  She still wants to adopt babies from Haiti rather than have her own (because she found out that hurts).  Camp Lakewood is quickly becoming her very favorite place to be, and she is like a completely different kid there!  It’s awesome.  I’m certain she will be a counselor there someday.

… Read the rest

Oh girl…

Kids, Parenting

Grace doesn’t like school.  I know most kids don’t, but this is a sometimes daily battle, and we’re back in that time.  Crying, stalling, arguing, insisting that she already knows everything… sigh.  Why don’t YOU have to go to school?  School’s no fun!  If school was fun I would pay attention.  I don’t need to go to school anymore.  Why do YOU get to do what you want all day??  Yes, THIS puts me in a good mood at 7am.

I tend to try different tactics from day to day, to see which will work.  Sometimes I’m firm, sometimes I … Read the rest

A completely different Grace

Kids

Our church had a lock-in last night for 3rd-5th graders to give them a taste of summer camp.  Grace was excited to go, but when it was time to go she started to get a little anxious and asked if I could stay for a bit.  I assured her I would.  Then when we walked into the building and she saw many of the camp counselors from last summer, she turned into a completely different Grace.  She was loud and chatty, pointing at people and recalling events with them from last summer.  She was sarcastic and goofy.  She was confident… Read the rest

Parenting Anxiety

Parenting

I’ve written before about Grace’s anxiety, and we are still learning A LOT about her and how to parent her through this.  We are now trying a new resource called Turnaround.  It is an audio program for the child, rather than a book for the parent to read then figure out how to apply to the child.  It’s about 6 kids who go on a hike, each with a different social problem: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (like Grace), shy (not your average kind of shy, but won’t go to school shy), perfectionism (again, the kind that disrupts normal daily … Read the rest