My Dearest Daughter with an Attitude
My Dearest Daughter, it is my job to recognize all of the “teachable moments” in your life. Sometimes, I totally miss the mark. Sometimes, I knock it out of the ballpark. Just depends on the day. The next time you consider rolling your eyes and smart talking me, the Mother who carried you for 9 long months. The Mother that was in labor for 4 very long days, please remember this:
- I love you!
- I changed your disgusting poopy diapers.
- I held your hand and never left your side (not even to shower) all of those times you were in the hospital.
- I am your biggest cheerleader at all of your sporting events. Yep, that’s me screaming my head off on the sidelines.
- I pretend not to hear you when you whisper how much you hate doing chores or eating your veggies.
- I am always there for you in life no matter what.
- I always put your needs first.
So please know:
- Yes, I saw you roll your eyes at me so hard I thought for sure they were going to fall right out of your head.
- I was 11 once and remember having that same “I know everything attitude”.
- The tone at which you spoke to me in is totally unacceptable and won’t be tolerated.
- I will always be one step ahead of you. Maybe 17.
After a quick prayer asking for patience, the best form of punishment that I could think of in this situation is a total embarrassment. Not the Facebook shaming kind. The kind when you have a friend over and they think your mom is totally crazy.
An N’SYNC song came on the radio and I did what anyone my age would do. Crank it up and dance! Busting out every dance move I could possibly think of at the moment. Nothing like wearing long socks with shorts and dancing like nobody is watching. The only difference is someone WAS watching. A friend from your school who will totally tell everyone you know and talk to. Totally ignoring the look of horror on your face as I jump around singing “baby bye bye bye” biting my lip for the effect of intensity.
Once my kick-butt solo is over, I tell you to never talk to me like that again. EVER! Or it will be 10 times worse than you ever thought imaginable. Kids your age are embarrassed by things like your parents kissing you in public or calling you by your nickname. I have a lot more where that came from so don’t push your luck. A long letter short; never ever underestimate your Mother. I got this whole being a pre-teen thing in the bag. I’ve been there done that. Anything you can do I can do better!
Love Always,
Your Amazing Mother!
I love it! Well done! I don’t believe they realize it was literally just a few years ago we were teens 😉 Way to go!
I love this!! My oldest is 8 and already starting to be sassy. I’m not forward to those tricky years!
Yes! My favorite part: I’ve got a lot more where that came from! My daughter told me the other day, in a moment of high drama, “You just don’t KNOW what it’s like!” I told her I was once her age, and she responded, “Yes, but that was so long ago you don’t remember.” Argh. (So glad to find you on Mom 2 Mom)
Missi Perez , Preteens or teenagers at the semi-grown up stage where mother are lame & clueless and don’t know anything… as sassy as they are these teens still want you to care. Great article post every mother can relate to.
I love how you handled this. Kids need to know what will not be tolerated.
HAHA! I love it! I totally get it too. I have a 17 year old daughter, 11 year old son, and 9 year old daughter, so yes, I have had eyes rolled at me more times than I can count. I have also embarrassed the heck out of them…on purpose LOL Bravo Mom!
Haha, this post is truly awesome. Sweet, and yet realistic haha. Love it!
Oh I was a pain as a kid, don’t know how you mothers do it!
Oh my, i was just like her not too many years ago, i would have loved if my mom was a bit more like you.
This post makes me super grateful to be a mother of all boys. They can be a handful for sure but we sure skip a lot of drama. Good luck and bless you for raising a daughter that will grow up to be respectful of her mamma!
Haha this is so funny.. Im not a mom yet but it surely reminds me several fights that I had with my mom when my sister was a teenager.. Now she is a mom so its her time to go through this
Perfect embarrasment. It is so important to remind children that parents are real people with real feelings.
This post speaks the truth! I love how real you are and it’s really all so true, every mom with a daughter can totally relate to this.
I wonder if some of them realize that we were actually their age at some point. There is nothing they are trying that many of us have not….LOL
You totally cracked me up with your punishment! That’ll teach her! lol
Oh jeez I am terrified of when my daughter is a teenager! Great post my dear!
My son already has this attitude and he is 9. I can’t wait for the teenage years. Not LOL.
You’re awesome! I love what you did!
Haha omg yes that is the way that you teach kids who is boss, I bet your daughter never lived it down lol!
You were in labor for 4 days?! Did I read that right? I love the way you handled this situation.
lol that is funny! Great move, mama. And ‘so there’ to all the pre-teens in the world rolling their eyes. 😉
This is awesome! My girls are still a bit younger, but already have the sass! So I can’t wait to come up with embarrassing moments for those rolling of the eye days 🙂 Might have to find that NSYNC CD, LOL!
My daughter, at 31, still has an attitude. It reared its ugly head today. There is nothing I can do about it. I try to put it in a box and add a pretty bow so it doesn’t bother me (much). If this blog were written for an adult child, I would send it to her!
Oh my gosh!! I am not ready for 16, I can’t even imagine 31. I guess they never outgrow it then, huh?
Give me a call if you need some help! Haha
BOOM! We will show them who is boss one retro song at a time
YES! I wasn’t able to dilate and because the baby wasn’t in any distress they just let me keep going at it until my water finally broke. On the 4th day!!!
I hope not 🙂 I still have to give her a quick reminder every now and again lol
It only gets better…. just embarrass him once in a while to show him who’s boss lol
Thank you! Let me know if you need backup!
Like a boss! Ha!
I don’t think they do. She must think I was always this age and this uncool lol little does she know everything she can do I can do better!! LOL
Totally!! She actually asked me if N’Sync “was still alive”… Sheesh!
You may have to be her backup and remember this post LOL
Girls are SO dramatic. Thank you for your kind words 🙂
I hope one day she appreciates my kind of crazy 🙂
So funny as teen girls we think we are the only ones with woes and wisdom… then we grow up and realize what how silly we were as teens.
i’m a mother too and everytime my daughter rolls her eyes and change her tone of voice. I’ll make sure remind her that she’s lucky to have parents, so she better stop whtever it is haha. most of the time I’ll tell that yeah, i did that before to my mum and now regret it haha
Hahahaha, you’ve got to love n’sync and a mummy out to prove a point to her kids. My mum kinda put the fear of God in us so complaining and moaning was done when we thought she was not looking but being a mum she already knew lol we wised up pretty quickly lol