Yep, I am.
I have a man-child (no not my husband in this case), a wanna-be man child, and a pre-teen.
I'm am transitioning into three different stages of my children's lives.
There are so many days that I have no clue how I'm going to survive it.
No. Clue.
Between the "I am 18 and should get to do what I want, but I still want you to pay for stuff," and the "I got a job, I deserve a reward," (are you FREAKING KIDDING ME?!) and the "I want to do all the stuff my older brothers do without the thought that I am 10 years old."
Yet, with all of that, they're still tattlers. Every single one of them will flip on the other in a heart beat...I don't even have to bribe any of them.
Oh! Oh! And not only the little stuff! They practically kill themselves getting to me to tell me about the big stuff.
I'm preparing one to transition to college. He's the one I'm going to talk about here.
He's starting his senior year of high school this fall. We've been looking at colleges, and some have been looking at him, too. He knows what he wants to go to school for, which blows my mind, but he doesn't know where he wants to go.
He had a revelation a few months ago when we were talking about transitioning to college.
Me: "How in the hell are you going to wake yourself up every day to go to class?"
Him: "You mean my RA won't do it?"
I sat there slack jawed and realized how little I've prepared him to be an adult.
Okay, how I have hardly prepared him to be an adult at all.
So, now I'm trying to make up for lost time. I'm coming down like a hammer. I'm standing my ground and trying to teach him responsibility.
Boy, did I miss the fucking boat on that one.
I'm trying, he's resisting. I'm losing my shit constantly.
Making up for lost time is hard. My advice to you parents with younger kids; don't make excuses. Don't put off teaching them the important things. Don't spoil them with no responsibility.
You'll thank me later!
~Kim
What advice do other transition mom's have?
We can all use all the help we can get!
I have one starting her senior year of high school and going to college in Sept 2018. Mom, take it easy. He will get up all by himself. How do I know? I have 3 grown children in their 30s. My youngest son, the youngest of the grown kids, didn't even know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich when he moved out on his own. 13 yrs later, he is doing just fine. Your son will learn by doing, by suffering consequences , not ones imposed by you, but ones imposed by life. He will learn how to be responsible. He will grow up and mature. He will make it through college and you Mom, will be proud of him
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