I’m a few years past the teen stage now and phew – made it through! With the exception of a few teen antics…
From starting a field on fire to clear it for bike jumps (doh!) to a few years later and a little joy riding incident to Timmy’s?! Duh! BOYS!
My son is now 26 and has turned into a true keeper and quite the *gulp* man! Makes me a proud mom everyday.
What has put me back in the teenage mode again are my 16 yr-old twin nieces that live in BC. They really are gorgeous, out-going and smart. (Okay I’m bias, but they worry me so much!) They’re still teens and let’s face it… they’re not known for being real bright sometimes! THINK they know everything… remember?!
A couple of weeks ago I saw a BC story on the news… a horrid teenage – hate this word – gang-rape. Of course it bothered me terribly to hear about it, but had never heard of Pitt Meadows and I guess went on with my day. Later, the same report is on the top of ALL newscasts and now I see the police are from Maple Ridge – where those two, previously mentioned, precious girls live!
My heart went into my throat and my stomach began to automatically pain! I google mapped it and found these two places were directly beside each other – very close – too close!
I called my sister right away only to be furthered sickened… one of the girls had been invited to THAT party. (I’m truly ill writing this – 2 weeks later.) LUCKILY my sis had told her – “NO WAY was she going to that party (she actually put an F’ing in front of ‘party’) or any other for that matter!” I could tell by her voice she was still shaking also! THANKFULLY this time they’re okay, but that poor girl was drugged – sadly, no defense against that or the cowards that did it.
The horrific details will never end for that family – it was videoed, posted and went viral. A recent up-date reveals there were 12-14 people either involved or a witness to it. HOW does this happen? HOW could there be that many that: a) haven’t been taught better, or b) didn’t care or know how to stop it?!
We must keep teaching our girls to always be aware of their surroundings and know ALL the dangers lurking out there AND teach our boys to be nice, respective people that would NEVER do a thing like that in the first place! I could unfortunately only have one child, but to this day have MANY that call me Mom! Ours was the hang-out house – I planned it that way – thought it better to keep them close.
Those ‘kids’ still thank me for letting them have a safe, fun place to be. My son and any of his friends knew they could call us anytime, day or night and we’d be there. We must ‘keep up’ with our teens… actually talk to them, know what their fav things are, be interested even when you’re not and always TRY to know who they’re with and where they are. It’s TOO easy for them to slip away or be influenced at that age. SURE they’re going to do and try things but it’s up to us to teach them the major rights from wrongs and most of all – RESPECT! Respect for themselves and others!
NOTE: I want to thank Maria aka @amotherworld for the opportunity to put some of my numerous thoughts in print. I promise they won’t be a downer like this one, BUT it hit so close to home, I literally haven’t been able to shake it.
Dianne Preston aka @smilenwaven is a proud Mom, first and foremost. Her son inherited his musical passion from her but thankfully he has talent! Dianne has worked in the admin world for most of her working years and now has a home-based typing, errand service. She loves music/concerts, antiques, Scrabble, cooking and being with friends, including her Mom. She worked as an associate-editor for two small newspapers and was married 25 years, but has since moved on and loving her ‘new life’ at the moment.