Monday, November 19, 2007

Pre-teen turmoil

My daughter is eleven. She is beautiful, sweet, well-behaved, and smart. Very smart. She is in gifted classes at school - she is a math whiz, she plays piano, she plays softball, she practically has a photographic memory. Actually, she really blows me away with how awesome she is. Of course I realize I'm a little prejudiced about the topic, but still. Friends who have older daughters have told me, "just wait till she hits those teenage years, she will change, you just wait..." I didn't believe them. Not my sweet, loving girl. She wouldn't succomb to those back-talking, know-it-all teenage ways. I think I may be about to eat my words. Lately she has been an emotional wreck. She gets so irritated with me. I embarrass her with the music I listen to if her friends are in the car with us. I find her rolling her eyes or sticking her tongue out at me. She cries at the drop of a hat. The other night at dinner, I felt so bad for her. She's a very picky eater, if we're having something she doesn't like, she will pick at her food, taking tiny bites and inspecting each and every morsel. Hubby started imitating her, by putting little bites of food on his fork and making faces at her. She immediately burst into tears. Then her little brothers started laughing at her. Which made her cry more. I'm sure her hormones are a factor and I know it's a hard age for a girl. Especially a girl who has three brothers. We were at her piano lesson last week. She had a few minutes before her lesson started, so she was practicing her recital song on one of the extra pianos. (She's playing 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies' at her recital this year, and it's a tough song to learn). I happened to look over at her and she's fighting back tears because she is frustrated with the difficulty of the song. I pray for strength to help her through these upcoming years. I pray that she stays interested in school and academics and music. I pray that we stay close and have the kind of relationship where we can talk about anything. I pray that I can overlook the eye-rolling and remember what it's like to be that age. I know everything will be fine. She really is a great girl!



(Here's a picture of us from this weekend. We spent the day with a friend and her mother shopping and having lunch at The Cheesecake Factory)

5 comments:

Jill said...

Oh gosh - I feel for her (and you!) I remember the difficulty I had at the age (30 years ago), but it must be ten-fold now with the pressures kids have. She sounds like she's really hard on herself, too. Prayers and thoughts going out to you!

Monica said...

Great photo of you and her. I remember those days , My daughter is now almost 15 and we are very close . She tells me things and confides in me ,which is something I always hoped for! But it isnt easy..hang in there!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Lisa said...

I remember those years well. Your daughter sounds like a great kid, sorry she's having a rought time. My nine year old is also at the stage where she is bursting out into tears over everything. I'm trying to be patient, but it is driving me nuts!

Martha said...

Ohhhhhh....

Your poor girl!! She'll pull through - but MAN! Hormones are the WORST!

You sound like a good, caring Mom, which is exactly what she needs. Because they can be little sheisters who need us to bite the insides of our cheeks and let them have their feelings.

What a great picture of the two of you! Beautiful!

xoxox,
martha

Anonymous said...

Whoa! I have one of those sweetie pies. She's 6. AND YOU JUST SCARED ME! :)