Sunday, July 15, 2007

angst and tears and tibet



This is Via. This is Via riding a tank at an amusement part. It is really a metaphor - and , frankly, I am not amused one tiny bit.! This is Via and her "attitude of the week."
Via is only a second grader, yet it appears that she is headed right into the greasy arm pit of puberty. She is a "pre-teen" complete with sassy attitude and unpredictable emotions.
Via was grounded this week. She lost her bike. She lost her computer time. She lost her books-in-the-car. She kicked her sister in the stomach. She lied to her mother. Several times. She cried. She threw shoes at her family.
Puberty is going to be rough on this family with three strong-willed girls. (What did the toddler books call it... "the spirited child?" They've got nothing on this!)
It's inevitable - the girls are going to be hormonal, angst-filled teenagers. It apparently doesn't matter if they are true teenagers by the numbers. It's all in the attitude. And by the look of things, puberty is descending upon us like the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Why don't people warn parents about puberty? Where is this chapter in my parenting manual? My mother says that I am only getting what I deserve (apparently, my teen years were no walk in the park... so?!)
By my best guess, we are going to have several hormonal girls in this house for at least 20 years.
I will not be here. I will have moved to Tibet.
I hope they have coffee in Tibet.

2 comments:

. . . said...

Perfect. Puberty...there's nothing like it. With both girls still in preschool I've put puberty in one of those pockets in my mind. I know it's there, but I'm not quite ready to fully contemplate it. I take it out and look at it once in a while and then I put it back for another day. With all of the younger cousins going through it together, I look forward to sharing creative parenting ideas, stories and hopefully laughs. Yes, please tell me there are laughs between 12 and 16 years!

Shandy said...

yikes! What a rough moment. I am thinking of you! I'm sure your mother could tell you this as well, but as a former high school teacher I can say truthfully that teenagers have many wonderful moments as well.