Parenting of teen lesson (yet again)

I find myself so often thinking that because I became a mother late in life, I will have all of this wisdom to pass on. Whenever I get caught up in this almost proud mode, I am truly humbled. My oldest teen daughter had been going against the grain a bit (nothing too earth shattering but it wasn't like her) and we were not really seeing eye to eye. Being a person to tackle issues head on I went to her one day and said "something is wrong." We both agreed and after a long conversation and dealing with basic expectations and where they were at, I realized that I had been working and thinking things were okay, yet there were many things that were left from when she was 12 or so that were not okay then, but that would be now as she is 16. She was functioning under the 12-year-old guidelines, and trying to do more without my knowing not realizing she could simply come to me and ask. She told me she figured I would still say no, not realizing that she had changed in age. Something so simple....I had dropped the ball and not communicated consistently throughout the years about so many things that had become okay now that she didn't realize. She had just assumed that I would say no, or to use her expression, would "flip out."

Lessons before 50 actually came for her....the importance of communicating. She would have had nothing to lose, and that was valuable for her to see. So it was a duet of lessons still coming. We have both agreed to be totally honest and if any expectations are broken we will talk it through immediately. My lesson specifically.....the doors of communication are reestablished and always open. Nothing is more important
at this point in both of our lives. The diaper changing days are over, the trust was established as we do our part as mothers of little ones. But now, the trust is established for a purpose and that was suddenly clear to me. The purpose goes much deeper for each child, while we as parents desire to impact their lives in a special and unique way.

The door today was then also open so that we were able to talk more about music, favorite songs, etc and she brought up the discussion. Score one for the lesson learned before 50.........and my door and heart were open to hear what she had to say and I know we will have a series of discussions now.....score one for the lesson learned and continuing to be learned after 50.

Have a great weekend and be a wonderful listener and open your heart to hear your children. They have a lot to say!
Denise

Great Work!

Melanie from Melanie OTG gave me this award and I can't thank you enough for thinking of me. :)

Here are my top 5 blogs:
1. http://smokymtnbodybyvi.blogspot.com/ A great blog, helpful for those of us with any kind of struggle, but apply it to weight and it's a winner!
2. http://nzeremm.blogspot.com/ So much good stuff here, I could stay on this blog forever. Good for savings, homemaking, parenting, and everything else in between.
3. http://www.weidknecht.com/ My first blog I went to for blog hops, products, and just some knowledge to challenge my inner teacher, which I was before homeschooling my own! Good stuff.
4. http://www.menopausegoddessblog.com/2012/04/29/ Good work on menopause and how we all need to bond together as we're definitely not alone in an especially difficult time for some. A little encouragement, laughter goes a long way. Thank you for the work you've put into this blog.
5. http://www.artisticbeliever.blogspot.com Great work from an up and coming teen blogger. We all need to encourage them...combining art and Christian values. A great combo!

Okay award winners, what do you do now? Follow these rules:

If you receive the award, you should:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favourite bloggers and keep it going!

Have a great day bloggers!
Denise

Get Up and Move

To start on a humorous note, it smacked me in the face the other day that after 50 is nothing like before 50 (hence the blog title :) when my daughter said was walking next to me and said "you have a hair" and she reached near where my chin was. To calm you right now, the hair was on my coat but long and sticking out. As she reached for it, she saw the look of panic on my face as she said "don't worry, it's not connected!".......and I realized I think I have hit a new milestone of old. I would never have even gone there before 50!! LOL.

Lately I have also been struck of the positives and negatives of working at home and homeschooling. Positive for the kids as they're doing well in school and have some very good friends through our church and extracurricular activities. Now, for me..........I see some people making the news now in their 80s and running marathons, etc. The work I do does not quite lend itself to my training for a marathon, let alone running one. I'm pretty organized in scheduling time for school help when needed, cooking time, and I have some really great helpers between husband and daughters for cleaning. However, getting up and moving around is a drawback. Medical transcription is an intense job, and you can easily work and not realize hours have gone by. Some days, it is as if I have moved 10 steps instead of the recommended 10,000. My metabolism has hit the after 50 mark, so the necessity to move is more important than the before 50 years. So here I am working on some after 50 weight and realizing I need to step it up and do after 50 exercising for the health that I have been blessed with....to maintain and to continue the feeling of before 50! Everyone today---get up and move. Even if you walk in place through one TV program, let's all take a little time for "us" today! How do you schedule your "get up and move" time?

A Proud Moment

I learn so much from reading everyone's blog and am often just thankful to be a part of using the internet in a good way. I have mentioned before that I have two teen daughters. One is 16 and one is turning 15 in a week. Yes, the time goes fast as we share with them different pregnancy, labor, and toddler stories and I realize that I'm speaking with two wonderful young ladies.

This leads me to the fact that my oldest daughter is going to be my featured blogger. She is 16, has worked very hard on her blog, and is an up and coming photographer (and quite good if I must say so as her mother ;) She recently won a school photography contest! Congrats to her! We all need to encourage our kids and focus on the good that they do and their potential, especially in this day and age and all the negative going on. Feel free to check her blog at simplysnapshots.wordpress.com.

I will be featuring one blog per month. Interested? Leave a comment as to why you would like to be featured, or email me at dfoell123@gmail.com. Enjoy your day!

A Long Silence

It has been a long silence since I've last blogged. I've mentioned medical transcription, family, teens....Family especially must come first, and my two teens are a special part of that. :) Financial issues had to be taken care of, so I needed to give my all to some extra transcribing as well as making sure the lines of communication with my teens are always open. Blogging is not a stable monetary income for me, and if there is money fine...if not, I feel that when I post I truly have something to share and if it benefits you, that's really special for me. So I am back and will be sharing areas of home life, homeschooling, transcribing for all of the "doctor wanna-bes" and work at home people, recipes, and bits of knowledge that descend when I least expect it as part of life after 50. :)

Enjoy and feel free to share in any of these areas. Having contributed to digging us out of a financial hole, it's nice to be back.