June 29th, 2013

Coming of Age

by Terri Libenson

I’m finally coming up for air. The last few months have been a whirlwind of events. Taking a cue from summer, I’m slowing down a little and enjoying the lazy days.

I’m also looking around and wondering, where are the kids? Oh yeah, one’s at sleepaway camp for a month, the other is on an overnight trip with her teen camp. Now I know why my summer’s lazy…I’m taking mini-breaks from parenting.

There are other powers at work. When she is around, my 13-year-old would rather be with friends or boys than her parents. Texting is also an adequate substitute. If it weren’t for our mutual love of reading and shopping (and her own desire to be driven places), I don’t think she’d spend ANY time with me.

Did I mention boys? When she does talk to me, half the time it’s about the male species. Which inspired this small series (based on no particular real person, I should add).

It’s weird for me to view my daughter this way. My younger one, yes — she’s been boy crazy since infancy. But my older girl only recently stopped thinking boys were annoying idiots. It’s also hard for me to think about what comes next: big time crushes, heartaches, etc. Let’s see if Jill navigates this minefield better than I can.

And let’s hope she’s not told, in so many words, to “butt out…MUHthur.”