Search Results for: blog parenting is a roller coaster ride

Emotional Rollercoaster of Single Parenting

After a divorce it may seem utterly impossible to find happiness in your life, at least right at first. In the beginning, your emotions are consuming you. You can’t seem to focus on anything else. Your heart aches for how things should have been and it aches even more when you see what your children are going through. People tell you that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, but no matter how hard you try you can’t seem to find it. You feel as if you are constantly surrounded by darkness with no hope of … Continue reading →

All Aboard the Roller Coaster Ride of Adolescence

Dealing with a teenager can be a dicey proposition in the best of times. On any roller coaster, part of the ride is taking that occasional plunge, but what happens when the drop becomes too steep or the ride veers off track? When you’re in parenting mode, your tolerance for a rough ride may be different from your teen’s. So how do you know if your teen is having a bad day or a bad week or something more? How do you know if the withdrawal and slump in grades are normal or something to worry about? How do you … Continue reading →

Rough Ride: The Roller Coaster of Adolescence

Few things strike fear into the heart of parents more than the approaching adolescence of their children. They’ve heard horror stories from family and friends, and they dread the fear of the unknown and how it’s going to go with their own kids. Will that happy-go-lucky child turn into some sort of a sullen monster? Will the childhood skirmishes of yesterday turn into open warfare? Will the days of having their friends over all the time turn into years of going out to be with friends somewhere else? Most of us can remember feeling awkward, unattractive, anxious, and overwhelmed as … Continue reading →

Parenting by the Seat of Your Pants

There is a common theme I have begun to notice in many of the Dr. Phil shows I watch on parenting, along with many episodes of “Supernanny.” It’s the “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” kind of parenting. This kind of parenting has no plan in place. Many parents just take life as it comes and when problems arise, try to handle them in the moment. I don’t know about you but when I try to handle anything in a moment of pressure, I usually don’t fare well. Parenting has to be deliberate and thought out. It takes energy, time and ideas to do this. … Continue reading →

Parenting Teens Is Like a Roller Coaster Ride

I am so looking forward to July and August, as the church I attend will be holding a class both months on the topic of teenagers. July will be about teenage boys and August will be about teenage girls. They plan on covering the mental, physical, spiritual, social and psychological development of teenagers. I always believed that children should come with some sort of manual. Okay, maybe not really. However I do think that before a mother leaves the hospital she should be counseled in some way about what can be expected. We give birth and a day later we … Continue reading →

Parenting is a Roller Coaster Ride

There have been times when I wished parenting and life with children was more linear. To read the child development books, things look rather neat and tidy. Children move from stage to stage, phase to phase, and move along the stepping stones to adulthood with clear purpose. But in real life, it just doesn’t work that way. Periods of developmental bursts can often be followed by some types of “regression” and things can often seem rather up and down, push and pull and downright sloppy. What I have found in my parenting experiences is that stages tend to be more … Continue reading →

Letting Hope Light Your Path

When a teenager decides to take a path you never hoped they would travel, nor did you ever imagine they would, it can result in a mother questioning her abilities. I know because I have been there. You ask yourself what signs you might have missed. I know because I asked myself that. You wonder if you could have changed the course. I know because I have wondered the same thing. You wonder if it will ever get better. I know because I had those concerns. And you ask yourself, “What can I do to make sure this never happens … Continue reading →

Emotional Preparation for School

So it’s a new school year and while as a parent you might be a little excited about your teens going back, they may not feel the same way. Think about it. As your teen gets older, there are new problems and stresses to face. Classes tend to get more difficult and they are getting that much closer to their future as an adult. They may have had problems last year that they are sure will be worse this year. It’s important to help prepare your teen. It goes beyond taking them school clothes shopping or making sure you have … Continue reading →

This Too Shall Pass

I really enjoyed reading “Promises, Promises” by fellow blogger Michele Cheplic. It brought me back to the days when my children declared they would live with me forever. In fact, I clearly remember a conversation I had with my oldest son when he was in the 5th grade. His class took a fieldtrip to the University of Milwaukee, where they got to learn about some of the studies offered there and what it was like to live in a dorm. Now to this day I don’t understand how a 5th grade class would benefit from such a thing but whatever…that’s … Continue reading →

Intensity

In the beginning of your single parenting journey you may feel overwhelmed at the tasks that lay before you. Your entire world has shifted. This is unknown territory and you are frightened at the prospect of facing this challenge alone. You will do it, because there is no one else to do it for you, but it is ok to be afraid. There are times you will feel as if you are trying to breathe underwater. The intensity of all emotions grows with single parenting. The stresses are bigger, the pain is greater, the injustice is constant, but also, the … Continue reading →