raise happy, healthy confident children

I have to edit this goal. My stepson is living with us now so I’m going to have to try to raise two happy, healthy, and confident children.

I have two lovely daughters who I love with all my heart. Our lives have changed a lot in the last few years, and I want to make sure they know how happy and loved they are and have the best start in life they can. My 3 year old is jolly and delightfully happy, but I am worried about my 16 year old. I want to get her happy and shiny andback on track so she can go on to have the life she wants.

I drive my daughter to school each morning. She wants to ride the bus. I’m having such a hard time with this one. I see the kids on those buses. I was on the verge of giving in when I drove home after dropping her off at school and saw the bus she would have been on. It was broken down by the side of the road. I just kept thinking; those parents think their kids are at school yet they’re sitting on the side of the road.

I’ve driven behind the buses and seen the kids standing in the aisles and leaning over the seats. There are no seat belts. I’m just not ready.

My daughter learned to ride her bike all by herself today. I’m usually right next to her and she grabs me if she starts falling. She was also afraid to start riding unless I gave her a push.

Today, I sent her outside with her bike. She kept asking if I was going to come with her but I forced myself to say “no”. Unbeknownst to her, I watched from an inside window as she started and stopped several times.

Finally, she got the hang of it. She started pedaling and didn’t stop. I was so proud of her. I was inside the house jumping up and down.

I’m so glad I stepped back and made her do it on her own or she would never have felt confident enough to let go of me.

Despite struggling in school for so many years and finally getting the help she needed within the last two years, she’s never lost her thirst for knowlegde. And tonight while she was on the phone I heard her telling one of her friends the same thing I used to tell her…”homework is brain exercise…if it wasn’t challenging your brain would be mushy, and I don’t think you want a mushy brain.”...hope she remembers what I said to her about drugs, alcohol, and sex.