Parenting seemed so much easier when my children were young. Even though a temper tantrum or bedtime was a serious issue to me, it's nothing compared to dealing with teens. Teens with attitudes. Teens with mental illnesses. Teens dealing with their mother's cancer.
No these are not all my teens, they also belong to friends. Several of my friends have children with mental illnesses. Teens who are already hormonally challenged and have bipolar disorder, depression, cutting. I honestly don't know how they cope. Another friend has metastatic breast cancer and her teens are helping to care for her with their dad when she has chemo. A friend of mine has a daughter who's in her early twenties who's been battling ovarian cancer for several years. 21 year olds aren't supposed to get ovarian cancer.
When I was 17 my biggest life crisis was that my parents had forced me to move from Michigan to Southern California in the middle of my junior year. Now it sucked. But not like knowing my mom had cancer sucks. Not like having cancer myself would have sucked. Not like wanting to die suck. Not being unable to control my emotions and not knowing why sucks.
I am ashamed. For being such a self-centered little brat. I was in a snit for 2-3 years. Such a twit. I am ashamed when I think my boys are difficult. Because I don't have it so bad.
I am healthy. My boys are healthy. We are basically mentally in control. Thank goodness for antidepressants.
I pray and hope for the best outcomes for my friends and their children. I wish I could be more helpful. Knowing the things they go through and cope with help me to know my family will be okay.
1 comment:
I have been thinking about this lately. My life concerns as a teen/early adult seem so trite now. The older I get, it seems like bad news is everywhere I turn.
I think I was a snitty kid sometimes too. But, we can't change the past, so it must stay in the past.
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