Cool Moms

Today my teenagers told me I was a cool mom. Apparently there was some discussion among their peers and they couldn’t relate at all, so they told their friends about me and their friends asked to trade. When I asked what sort of things their friends complained about they told me most of it stemmed from having divorced parents. My divorced friends, I know a lot of stuff happens that you can’t always control and can’t be undone, and you’re doing your best. This isn’t for you. This is for the young parents who are in the midst of the most difficult years of their lives. You have no time and no money and no energy and your kids are sucking the life out of you right now. The last thing you have time for is your marriage. But your strong marriage is the thing that your kids need and want most. This is out of the mouths of teenagers TODAY in 2017. Choose each other every day. Talk to each other. Plan ahead how you’ll deal with the everyday challenges of parenting. Yeah, I sent the kids running to welcome daddy at the front door when they were toddlers because it was 60 seconds they weren’t clinging to me, and it made his day, but mostly because of the clinging. Do what you need to do creatively to share the load. You’ll get through this. It gets easier. The more you face it together the more you’ll have in common when it’s all over. One of the strongest bonds of all is shared trauma! Parenting together definitely qualifies. I didn’t set out to be a cool mom. I’m strict and I’m on every PTA showing up in their lives all over the place. I just wanted to be a good mom. Turns out that’s pretty cool. (They couldn’t leave it at that though. They added, “dad’s even cooler,” and something about classic rock and his taste in movies. What-ever!)