Search Results for: blog bonding with teenage daughters

Weekend Bonding

Tis the season for purging junk from your home and having strangers pay you to get it off your property. See it, hear it, love it or hate it; the rummage sale season is in full swing. In our city, you can’t go a single block without being blinded by dozens of neon-colored signs fighting for space on the corners of busy intersections. Suburbia is littered with trash, treasures, and teamwork. Yes, teamwork. For many families, hosting a rummage sale requires a combined effort by all of its members regardless of age. At least that’s what my neighbors tell me. … Continue reading →

Bonding with Teenage Daughters

She’s 13 years old. She ignores me when her friends are around. She doesn’t laugh at my jokes, and has officially informed me that I am tone-deaf. Still she is the most important girl in my life. She is my daughter. We bonded immediately after she was born; probably even before that. We have always spent as much time together as possible, but as she get’s older, I find that I need to be more creative in finding reasons to bond. Fortunately, I think she is being creative too. For Christmas, my daughter purchased a manicure set and allowed me … Continue reading →

Don’t Take Teen Attitudes Personally

As much as we may not like it, teen attitude is normal behavior. Almost all teenagers go through a period where we love them but let’s face it; we have a harder time liking them. Rather, I should say that we have a harder time liking their behavior. It’s important that we don’t make things personal when our teenagers are going through those more difficult stages. Expressing to a teen, “I don’t like the way you’re acting” is much better than “I don’t like you.” Even if we don’t come right out and say those words we may be demonstrating … Continue reading →

Who Is Justin Bieber and What Has He Done With My Daughter?

I have only one daughter who is just about to turn 13-years-old. My youngest son is about to turn 11 and my oldest son will be 16-years-old. So far the teen years have been fairly easy with my teenage son, nothing I can’t handle. When he developed his first interest in a girl I thought it was cute. I thought it would help prepare me for my daughter’s first interests in boys but it didn’t. There is just something about girls that raises your alert level a bit higher. While girls in her middle school had already begun “going out,” … Continue reading →

Playing Computer and Video Games Together

My daughters have been teaching me how to play SIMS 2 on the computer. We had a dreadfully wet and rainy weekend this past weekend–nonstop downpours with dark clouds and blustery leaves. No one wanted to go outside even to get a jug of milk. So once we’d watched all the movies, my almost-eighteen-year-old got out the computer games and the three of us built our homes and families and I struggled along to learn how to play. By all practical standards, we might all three be considered “too old” for such activities. I have certainly never been one to … Continue reading →

Shake Things Up With a Day of Non-verbal Communication

Think that vows of silence or silent weekend retreats are only for monks and holy people? Trying a day or afternoon or weekend of silence as a family can be fun, calming, and a way to focus on each other and be together without the chaos of chatter. Kids and parents can find it fun and challenging to find alternative ways of communicating when talking is out… My kids and I used to have fun with “silent hour” or “silent day” (We also used to have “opera day” but that is for another blog). The goal wasn’t to avoid each … Continue reading →

Hoarding and Protecting Family Time

This past weekend, I spent most of my non-work and non-responsibility time with my kids. Instead of saying “yes” to invitations from others, I chose instead to say “yes” to invitations from my offspring. Having been through some rather bumpy and rocky teenage times and, now that my older daughters actually WANT to do things with mom again, I feel compelled to hoard and protect these times that we can spend together as a family. My sixteen and seventeen year-old daughters and I went to dinner and a movie on Friday night, and then spent Saturday morning at the farmer’s … Continue reading →

What An Adoption Doctor Did for Us, Part Two

My last blog talked about how an adoption medicine specialist helped us to decipher referral information and consulted with specialists. Once the referral was accepted, the doctor provided instructions on how to page her from abroad and a list of “what to bring” for each country. In Korea, medical care is good and most children are in foster care. Also, we visited our daughter during our stay but did not take custody until the last day. Therefore we brought only over-the-counter medicines and did not need to page the doctor. People more likely to page the doctor are those who … Continue reading →