When your kid throws you a Curveball

My wonderful friend called me with a fantastic topic request. I love it when you make requests because I want to give you what you want. This is dedicated to her!

We all have expectations of what our kids’ lives should look like.

Go to school.

Make friends.

Get good grades.

Study.

Do extracurricular activities.

Get a job.

Date.

Go to dances. Be involved.

Graduate.

Go to college.

Get a job.

Get married.

Have babies.

Does any of that sound familiar? We have ideas in our heads about what we think our children should be doing. Here is the thing. It is not their job to live their lives how we think they should. They need to build their own life into what they want and what brings them their own fulfillment.

I just went to my friend’s house to drop off Lillie. She told me that her son just left for a party. My teenager was home studying. My automatic thought was, “He needs to go have some fun. Less studying and more fun.”

Do I sound crazy? I have ideas of how I think my children should be living. Have I asked them what they think? Yes, I have!

I have told my son that he needs more balance. I have told my son that he needs to go out and have fun. He wants to study! He tells me he doesn’t want balance. He wants to succeed. He has goals he wants to achieve, and he will get there by studying.

I told him not to take five AP classes at once. I told him I didn’t want to sign off on his schedule. He asked me to sign it anyway and let him do his thing. I listened and gave him what he wanted with some hesitation.

This isn’t about me and what I want. I want him to go to dances. I want him to ask a girl (friend) to go with him to the dance. He has other ideas. Our kids don’t always follow our story and it shouldn’t be about our story.

Tune in tonight LIVE to hear the rest...

Join me LIVE tonight at 9PM Eastern time for Whinypaluza Wedensday LIVE on

MY personal Facebook Page

The Whinypaluza Fan Page

Inside the Whinypaluza Mom's Group

I hope to see you there!