The other day I was talking about the concept of this blog to someone. Its about the post cutesy years, believe it or not, babies and toddlerhood ARE the cutesy years. Tweens and teens are the controlled chaos years.
These are the years when you really need support.
For instance - The case of the dumb girl with boobs.
A teenage girl that is friends with one of my children "accidentally" texted a boobie picture of herself to a boy. The boy threatened to blow it up and make posters.
#1 Oh hell no!
#2 Teenage girls of the world NEVER EVER EVER EVER DO THIS - It's actually considered child pornography.
#3 NEVER!
I'm not aware of this girl's family life and although this girl did something completely stupid it is the parents' responsibility to tell your kid not to do stuff like this in the first place. Sure there's a possibility after you purge that information it will go into one ear and out the other and they'll do whatever they want anyways. Saying it is important though - comparable to making your kid put the Brussels sprouts on their plate even though they hate them. It's the routine of exhibiting your authority as a parent but not in an asshole way.
"Do it because I said so!" We all hate that right? "Please be more vague, Mom."
You're raising people not pets. Remember we get pissed when people compare their cats & purse puppies to our children? Yeah.
Incidentally, the "Do it because I said so!" tends to be the most effective when you have your special girly time of the month. You've come this far together in life, kids know when mom is raging and they tend to not fight you much during your special time. Rage mom is no bueno in anyone's book. Teenagers tend to want stuff all the time and over the years they master the when to ask mom for shit time. Feel free to throw down the "Do it because I said so!" then.
As an adult you even respect your parent in some form and it's easier to respect a parent when they are consistent and honest. When you respect your parent you tend to respect yourself, because you want your parent to respect you. Its a vicious cycle!
I do have to admit if this girl was my daughter I would probably get a little ghetto on her at first. Loud yelling, index finger waving wildly in the air... but I am overcoming my own background and learning to be a reasonable parent who can communicate things in English not in satanic tongues. It is incredibly hard at times but your children are the best thing you can invest yourself into so you gotta give it a go. If someone would've "handled" me like that during my teenage years I might have avoided a few bad choices.
To dumb boobs girl, like I've told my own children, don't share anything that you don't want someone to use against you in the future. That shit can sneak up on you out of nowhere. Its not the 1990s when we were able to get away with more stuff. The technology you love so much ruins your privacy. Respect yourself enough to only share stuff like that with someone who deserves to see it. Deciding who, needs to have a good amount of thought invested into it. Some moms will say don't share those at all until you are married but I know better. I know what teenagers do, I was one before...
Keep your shirts on-
xox-Thea
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