Yesterday I was having one of those deep and meaningful conversations with my teen daughter … OK we were having words because we were not seeing eye to eye on something … OK we were having an argument.
Going through teenlife is a whole new mind bending experience when you are sitting on the other side of it as a mom. I have heard it said that the older a child gets the harder it is to parent. Now that I have made it through the baby years, the toddler years, the elementary years and even the very challenging tween years I am here to confirm the notion that older makes it harder. 
Back to our discussion…um yeah, right…argument. As I was making my point (and an excellent one at that) I said, “Sometimes you really make me wonder about my parenting skills.”
To which my daughter replied, “Mom, what I do now has nothing to do with your parenting skills, it has to do with me making my own decisions.”
She literally shut me up with that statement.
I stopped, pondered and said, “Wow, you have just given me a bit of an epiphany moment – I’m gonna have to think about that one.”
See what I mean about parenting teens, how do you argue with that? They use those sharp little minds to make points that you really cannot argue…they have this sneaky little way of teaching YOU something.
The thing you must not lose sight of here, is you have to earn the right to speak into, or argue into, the life of a teen. Through the discussions, arguments, they learn to reason and know what they think and how to express themselves.
Allow me to remind you moms, if you take the time to pour into the lives of your children and grow in relationship with them from the time they are very young, you too can have discussions …. arguments, with your teens that will keenly illuminate the love and reason you have been pouring into them throughout the years.
Momlife lived well leads to a teenlife you can be an integral part of…and yes, learn from.
I think that means you are doing your job as a Mom!