Prom Is Up And Coming Soon

This is my daughter's final year, a senior, who seems to be very happy with life, fulfilled with all that she is accomplishing and almost out of high school. Prom is just under a month away and the dress hunting has already begun. I thought that she would have found something by now, but the hunt continues...and woah! the prices are more than a hundred dollars....and most of the ones she likes are right under $200. All the plans are coming into focus right now but she started to mention that all of her friends were wanting to rent a beach house and I was starting to get queasy about it, but soon after, those plans seemed to fade away, which made things a little more easier for me. Prom, graduation, the thought of her going into the Navy or College, and her 18th birthday is so much that it makes my head spin, as well as the all-mighty dollar needing to be spent.

How Do You Deal With a Pet's Death?

How do you help your teen get through something tragic in life? Life has so many ups and downs but when something bad happens, do you hover over your teen, or do you leave them alone to deal with it in peace? I believe that there has to be a middle ground here somewhere.
We went to the barn on Saturday to see our horse. Our horse was fine, and all the other horses in the barn were doing good. We got a call on Sunday morning that the lesson horse, (who belonged to our trainer) was ill. He had gotten colic, which is pretty much a stomach ache, and it made him extremely ill. To shorten this story, he did not make it. My daughter loved him so much, as he was the horse she rode over the summer and learned many things on. She had developed a love for this horse. He was now gone and the tears came out very quickly. I felt so lost as I was upset about it as well. How do you deal with a "pet's" death? I chose to talk to her a little bit about it, and we both cried and hugged, but then I let her have some alone time. How do you help your daughter, or teen through a "pet's death"? This is a hard subject, I know, but we all have to go through it at one time or another, unless you have no pets, of course. I got up this morning and she was doing alright, but I know that it's on her mind today as she goes to school and sits in her classes. A Pet's death can be very hard on young people. I don't know what she would be like it if had been HER horse, but nonetheless, it was pretty tragic weekend for us.

Teaching Our Teens about Tragic Situations....

I just heard in the news where a teen or young person has grabbed a gun and thought they could play with it and it goes off. What a tragic thing to have happen. Young people do not realize the dangers of it all. I know that this is a very hard subject to deal with, but do you know what your teen would do if they saw a gun somewhere? How well do you know what they would do? I don't like talking about this subject because it's so scarey for me, but as you hear in the news, it does happen. You can say that your teen will not go anywhere where there may be a gun present, however, what about if your teen goes out somewhere, and then they venture off to another house? You don't know what's there that might be dangerous. It is very frightening to think about the unknown dangers out there. My best advice here would be to talk to your teen about dangers in other places. We teach our young people NOT to get into strangers cars, not to tell strangers our addresses and such, but do we really go further and discuss other dangers such as guns or weapons? Maybe you are scared to approach the subject with them? Maybe you don't have to. Well, many teens who actually end up curious enough to even touch a gun, really don't know anything about them. Teaching our young people about these hidden dangers is VERY important. They need to know that if they get into a situation where someone ELSE wants to explore things that they shouldn't, they should leave the situation so that they will not become involved into something they may get into trouble with. Teach them to walk away from situations that they KNOW are not good. Wisdom is powerful and we need to keep the lines of communication open with them.

The Difference in Teen Girls

As I sit here writing, I am confiding something to you. I am a bit worried. I have five children, all are grown, but my young teen. I also have a granddaughter who is a young teen as well. Actually, though it sounds funny, but true, she is the same age as my youngest daughter. They are more different than any two can be, and they don't get along that well. Right now, they live 6 hours away from us but were living here right up until this past summer. My goodness, what a difference they are. My granddaughter is bold, daring(takes chances) and beautiful. She is outspoken but tends to be a bit more "grown up" than my young teen. My young one is well focused, witty, very beautiful and likes to stay busy. One is not worried about her future, and the other one has her future goals set up and ready. I worry about her not having any goals, and the fact that she is much more mature....wearing alot of eye makeup and tighter clothing, speaks her mind and isn't worried too much about much exept for blending in with the cool people. I have suggested to my daughter(her mother) to find something to keep her busy, whether it be some sort of sports, or volunteering but I still worry that she is not keeping herself focused enough. I know, I worry too much here....but I have all too well seen many young teens get into things that they shouldn't. What do you do to keep your teens busy? Mine is in band, and horses and tennis, as many of you that follow this blog know.

Dental Check-ups

Sometimes we get really busy around here and it's not always the first thing on your mind--that yearly dental check-up. Yep, that's right. I know, I know, yucky, right? Well, that's what my dear darling daughter says. Last year she had a cavity or two so she wasn't looking forward to going this morning. But we had some good news today. She had no cavities at all. They examined her, and cleaned her teeth, which always feels good and off to school she went. I can't stress how important a yearly exam is. I should know, because I went alot as a child, but as I got to be an adult, I just didn't go as often as I should have. I wished that I would have kept up on it more. A pretty smile is very important, especially for young people.

Fish Camp

School will be starting here next week and today was fish camp. I think that's a great idea for the kids to get used to a new school, especially when they are starting high school. My daughter was nervous this morning heading out but came home very excited. Lucky for her, she knows some people in the band, but now has discovered there aren't anybody she knows in her classes. She has decided that she wants to work hard this year so that she will be able to take pre-ap classes, which will help with college credits when she starts in the years ahead to come. Keeping teens busy with something constructive is very important these days. There are some teens that do not plan on going to college but in order to get a decent job in life these days, they must at least finish school. Keep communications open with your teen and let them know how much you love them and stand by them. It's so important.

Money, Money, Money

I tell you, I wish that times weren't so hard these days. Things seem to cost so much more. We had an experience over the past couple of days that I would like to share with you all. My stepson, a wonderful guy, saw that we were having a little bit of a struggle with school clothes shopping, band uniform and shoes ordering, not to mention all the pens, pencils, papers and such that we were having to buy, that he came out to the kitchen one night, with a large shoe box. Inside the shoebox, was a bunch of change, and some wrappers. He told my daughter, that if we wrapped it, we could use it for clothing and whatever she needed. She and I were both astonished at this very heavy box and were so grateful for whatever would be in it. The next day, I separated the coins, and started the wrapper rolls. My daughter finished the roll, wrapped it up and then began the counting. To our amazement, there was 221.00 there. We were so thrilled. Next it was time for my daughter to learn how to spend this money wisely. Guess what happened next? We took about $60 of it, and went shopping at JCPenney, who had a wonderful sale going on during tax-free weekend. My daughter picked out 10 shirts for school....what a deal !!! She was thrilled, and so was I. Saturday came, and she needed some very important items for her new horse. Again, I grabbed $60, and away we went and found a great sale at Petsmart in the Stateline Tack area and she bought $45. worth of things. This left us enough money to buy a backpack and a new notebook holder. Now, with what's left, she will buy 2 new pair of jeans on sale and put the rest toward that marching band flute that we are set out to buy this afternoon. Teens need to learn the value of the dollar and how to spend their money wisely. Great bargains CAN be had, if you shop around and check the sales racks and the newpapers for what's on sale. Teach you teen how to spend their money wisely. After all, if they learn this while they are young, it will carry them through when they are older and REALLY need to learn how to spend.

A Hope And A Dream

I have been searching high and low for the ultimate horse for my daughter's dream. This is not a whimsy that she has, it's very real and it has lasted for many years. Sometimes our children have a want for a puppy, for instance, and after the "new" has worn off, they do not always tend to it like before, and we as parents end up doing the job. Puppies are great. .....and require alot of care. However, in our case, it's a horse. Years ago (4), my daughter was wanting a horse. I didn't have the money to spend on one, and didn't even know what all it required. I did some research on them, and decided to let my daughter have a taste of what it would be like. I enrolled us into a 4-H program with a barrel racing group. These women were the greatest and so delightful, and helpful. Everyone there had a horse except for us. But that was ok. Soon, my daughter started learning how to ride, and eventually did some barrel racing. She is a natural. But not only did she ride, she learned how to groom, how to feed, clean feet, and clean out stalls. Yes, the hard stuff, and more. I also enrolled her into a program through our local habitat-for-horses and she learned alot there too. How to go and get a horse out of the field, grooming, safety tips of how to get off the horse quickly in case she had to, and things went well. Here we are, about 4 years later, and the dream has not died. She has been in English jumper training for a year now and has been using the trainer's horse. It's been 4 whole years, and the dream has not died even after doing all the hard stuff. And I mean some stuff is hard. This summer she has been working and volunteering in the stables and I now feel it's time for her to have her horse. I have been looking and thanks to her trainer helping us, hopefully soon my darling teen will get her dream. She is going to be 14 yrs old on the 14th. How wonderful is that?

Those "butterflies in the tummy" feeling

The first day of band camp went really well for my darling daughter. She made more friends and has developed a new friendship with a girl that has alot of the same interests that she has. Both are in the band, both love riding horses. Wow, that is great. I had the chance to walk inside the band hall with her yesterday and there were floods of teens in there, and talked to the head band guy. I came across one of my hubby's nieces that was also in the band, an upper classman and she was there to help as well. I was so relieved that my daughter's first day was great. It's so important to try and calm their fears of the unknown. I remember those days since my family moved around alot. I remember the "butterflies in the stomach" feeling. Today is going to be another great day and I am so glad. Now I can go to work this morning feeling much better.

Mid-summer

Well, since Sunday's "meeting at the mall" is done, things are going pretty smooth. My dear daughter seems content in the fact that she got to go and see a movie with "her best friend". He is busy this summer helping his family at a job site and she is busy with her horse volunteering. It's going along very nicely and next week, we will start some beginner tennis lessons.My daughter has been doing some sewing and is enjoying her summer. Seems like now, that the summer is chugging right along. Normally we would have taken an out-of-state vacation but we have decided to let that go until next year. So, how are you all doing and how is your summer vacations going for you?

Raising a teenaged daugther

Boy is it hard these days !!! I have already raised 2 daughters and 2 sons, and I just turned 50 years old last week, and I still have a 13 yr. old daughter at home.
My oldest child is now 31 and will be 32 in June, and most of my children are 5 years apart. Things just aren't the same as they used to be. Especially from times when I was growing up.
My mother raised me on little ditties, nursery ryhmes and alot of little "sayings".
One little saying that she always said was " pretty is as pretty does" basically meaning, that if you want to be pretty towards other people, you must not only be pretty on the outside, but have a "pretty" inside, in your ways of being and in your actions. You must act "pretty" towards others and that will make you a "pretty" person.
That is one thing that I want my teenage daughter to learn. So, here are a couple of things I want to start with.

1. " pretty is, as pretty does" for people look at you from the inside in as well as the outside.
To my lovely daughter, who is learning how to grow in today's society, please hear me when I tell you that your actions really do count and people will remember the kind of attitude you present towards others. Some people, well, they may not care, but the MOST important people will.
2. attitude is everything, and I say that to show you that sometimes things in life, will go your way. But other times, they won't. So, always have the attitude that you can and will do your best to accomplish life's little twists and turns. Life is not easy, but having a good attitude towards things will get you farther.
3. "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" again is one thing that I want my daughter to carry with her as she goes into her daily routine of school. It is so very hard to always have this feeling when others are hurting you, but please learn how to do the best you can with this. You will go far in life treating others how you wish to be treated.

I will be writing more topics as time goes on, because there are so many things I want to tell my child to be able to carry with her in this life, especially being a teenager and facing life's hardships. Of course, there are going to be many wonderful days, but being a teen is challenging to today's teens.