Gaah -- by the end of this, I was practically sobbing. Thanks for writing this and for articulating everything here. It's beautiful and, even though my kid is younger, rang so, so true.
How did you crawl straight up into my head and write all my thoughts!? Thank you for this. It helps to know that I am not alone in navigating this world of teenagers and a pandemic and life and all of it!
This is spot on! My kids are younger (5yo girl and 8yo boy) and we have been together (along with my husband) every day since March 2020, which has been the best but most challenging time ever!
Okay, can I just admit that my oldest literally crawled across the high school finish line during the pandemic because of his ADD and Autism and now he's decided he doesn't want to go to college for the foreseeable future and I'm just so weirdly glad to still have him home? And my youngest just started high school this fall and she is STRUGGLING, which has never really happened before. I blame the year and a half of mostly virtual school. It's taking everything I have to continue to encourage her to keep at it, that it will get better eventually, and not to just say screw it and keep her home to theoretically homeschool her, but mostly just to hang out with her more again? Because I have so much time and attention to offer while I write (good grief. NOT.) Parenting teenagers is insanely hard, deeply inexplicable, and unexpectedly delightful even without a pandemic. The pandemic just amps it all up to 11.
This is so relatable. My kids did their senior years of high school and college in their bedrooms, then my eldest got a job in Baltimore and moved alone across the country while my youngest deferred her first semester of college waiting on a vaccine mandate. This is not at all how I was imaging these milestones in life to go and yet, here we
are! I have to wholeheartedly agree with your youngest about it being the best of times and worst of times though, having everyone home and trying to navigate a pandemic together has been so fraught with worry but also brought some really beautiful moments I will always be grateful to have had. It’s a weird time to be a parent to young adults though, I feel a lack of knowing the right thing to advise on just about a daily basis as I’m as new to this as they are.
i’m right there with you, including the decision to bring one home from college and the beauty of late night unbridled piano playing. my daughters are 15 and 18. ❤️🩹 so. many. feelings.
My gosh, this resonates so much. All of it. My sons were in 8th and 11th grades when lockdown hit (also here in Seattle) and having moved here from California at the beginning of that school year, my younger son has spent most of our time here in this house with only myself and my husband for companionship. My older kid had friends and a car and yes, did the long drives and walks throughout the remainder of his junior and senior years. (What I think many of my friends outside Seattle don't understand is that our kids only had like six weeks of school on campus--for only two afternoons a week--at the end of last year.)
My younger kid is now a sophomore, attending school on campus full-time, and has talked of a lot of drama and immaturity in his peer group. He has hypothesized that it's because this year's sophomores are socially freshmen because they never had the chance to work out the dynamics of high school and that particular year last year.
These years have been tough. But one unexpected gift was getting to have my older kid here so much during his last year of high school because otherwise he would have been engaged with work and school activities and all of the social stuff.
Gaah -- by the end of this, I was practically sobbing. Thanks for writing this and for articulating everything here. It's beautiful and, even though my kid is younger, rang so, so true.
How did you crawl straight up into my head and write all my thoughts!? Thank you for this. It helps to know that I am not alone in navigating this world of teenagers and a pandemic and life and all of it!
This is spot on! My kids are younger (5yo girl and 8yo boy) and we have been together (along with my husband) every day since March 2020, which has been the best but most challenging time ever!
Thank you so much for this. My 13 year old is suddenly my height, also growling at me and I’m trying to connect. This helped me feel less alone.
This made me sob and laugh in commiseration, and by the end it split my heart in two. You are such a gift to us all. Thank you for your writing.
Okay, can I just admit that my oldest literally crawled across the high school finish line during the pandemic because of his ADD and Autism and now he's decided he doesn't want to go to college for the foreseeable future and I'm just so weirdly glad to still have him home? And my youngest just started high school this fall and she is STRUGGLING, which has never really happened before. I blame the year and a half of mostly virtual school. It's taking everything I have to continue to encourage her to keep at it, that it will get better eventually, and not to just say screw it and keep her home to theoretically homeschool her, but mostly just to hang out with her more again? Because I have so much time and attention to offer while I write (good grief. NOT.) Parenting teenagers is insanely hard, deeply inexplicable, and unexpectedly delightful even without a pandemic. The pandemic just amps it all up to 11.
This is so relatable. My kids did their senior years of high school and college in their bedrooms, then my eldest got a job in Baltimore and moved alone across the country while my youngest deferred her first semester of college waiting on a vaccine mandate. This is not at all how I was imaging these milestones in life to go and yet, here we
are! I have to wholeheartedly agree with your youngest about it being the best of times and worst of times though, having everyone home and trying to navigate a pandemic together has been so fraught with worry but also brought some really beautiful moments I will always be grateful to have had. It’s a weird time to be a parent to young adults though, I feel a lack of knowing the right thing to advise on just about a daily basis as I’m as new to this as they are.
i’m right there with you, including the decision to bring one home from college and the beauty of late night unbridled piano playing. my daughters are 15 and 18. ❤️🩹 so. many. feelings.
My gosh, this resonates so much. All of it. My sons were in 8th and 11th grades when lockdown hit (also here in Seattle) and having moved here from California at the beginning of that school year, my younger son has spent most of our time here in this house with only myself and my husband for companionship. My older kid had friends and a car and yes, did the long drives and walks throughout the remainder of his junior and senior years. (What I think many of my friends outside Seattle don't understand is that our kids only had like six weeks of school on campus--for only two afternoons a week--at the end of last year.)
My younger kid is now a sophomore, attending school on campus full-time, and has talked of a lot of drama and immaturity in his peer group. He has hypothesized that it's because this year's sophomores are socially freshmen because they never had the chance to work out the dynamics of high school and that particular year last year.
These years have been tough. But one unexpected gift was getting to have my older kid here so much during his last year of high school because otherwise he would have been engaged with work and school activities and all of the social stuff.
Thank you for writing! Your thoughtfulness and insight is inspiring!