new stage fright

Welcome to my blog! I have been thinking about starting this for awhile now, but was having trouble pinpointing what my theme or purpose would be, and who would want to read what I write? I have read a ton of very interesting blogs in the last few weeks - to say the least - and what I’ve found is that you never can tell!

That said, my purpose or goal for my blog is to write about me and my relationship with my two beautiful daughters, my husband, my friends, my community, society at large, well, you get the idea. I am a former first grade teacher and reading specialist with children ages 8 and 6. I feel I have lived and breathed all things baby, toddler, and preschool for so long that this next stage of development – the tween stage – scares me, more than a little. So in my typical nerdy fashion, I am reading books on development, asking friends with older children, and trying out all kinds of theories and methods to relate to my children and create a better base for our relationship to weather the storms of tween and teen. I know my daughter M is only 8. And she says to me “Mom, I may be 8 now but please don’t call me a tween.” But I see the mood swings already. I see the tears when something doesn’t go right at school, I see the hurt in her eyes and hear it in her voice when a birthday party of a close friend doesn’t go like she had planned in her head. I see her trying to be liked, starting to be nasty to her sister, not because she is a mean child but out of frustration and insecurity. So, while I read and learn and experiment, I thought I’d bring you with me. If you are interested in starting this journey with me, subscribe and comment and maybe we can help each other.

Next post will be about our new mother-daughter book club.