Girl 101 WIP
Hello friends and fellow females! I'm a woman (duh) which means that at one point in my life, I was a little girl, a teenager, and a young woman. I am now "middle aged" 😢. Womanhood or whatever you want to call it, is still a big fat mystery to me!! There are some things that I will just never know or understand. Scientifically/medically maybe, but the why...I may never know. There are also some things that I do know about/understand...and wish to pass on to my girls. Stuff that they should know, even if they don't want to. 🙉
So, If you've read my previous posts, you know that I have six children. 👩👨👧👧👧👦The oldest is a fifteen year old girl, then an (almost) 13 year old boy, then three more girls aged seven, five, and four, and taking up the rear is the little man, he's two. Needless to say, I am going through some very different phases in my mothering journey. They're all challenging and they are all amazing in their own ways. But right now, in this time of my life, the most challenging is TEENAGE-DOM! It's really a huge surprise that I have any hair left on my head because sister, let. me. tell. you. It is ROUGH!! 😬Even though I have two teenagers in the house, this series is going to be focused on my eldest daughter. Maybe not specifically, but generally speaking, about all things girl.
Growing up with a very conservative and religious background, I feel that there were a lot of things that just weren't talked about. Now that I am older, I have talked to my girlfriends many times about this exact thing. Things like, "Why did no one tell us?" and "I didn't know that until I was married, or out of the home or, fill in the blank!" "I wish someone would've told me what to expect." have been mentioned more than a couple times. I'm not trying to bash my mom, or your mom or even you for choosing to censor your child from certain things. My mom and probably yours, made those decisions because they thought that was best for us at that time in our lives. But here we are now, with our girls feeling so lost, confused, and just plain ol' uninformed. You do you, make your choices, that's cool bro. 👌
Our children don't come with manuals. But wouldn't it be so much easier if they did? Yes, we have The Bible, and it is amazing! It literally has all the answers. But we also have knowledge passed down from our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, books, and online sources. And that's ALL great! It's all info that we should be passing down to our girls. But do we? And if not, why??
I can still remember very vividly, as if it happened yesterday, the day that my grandma introduced me to Emily Post. I was sitting in the basement of her house, on the couch, next to my grandpa who was watching hockey. My grandma walked by to go into the laundry room, and as she walked by she said to me, "You could be filling out thank you cards for all your birthday presents instead of watching that (pointing to the hockey game). That's what Emily Post would do." Now, of course I had no idea what or who she was talking about, and I probably didn't care. But as a sixteen year old girl, I heard what she said. Now almost twenty years later, I still have severe guilt over the fact that I NEVER send thank you cards. Emily Post would be SMH-ing if she could see me now! We can't make our children remember every little thing we tell them. We can tell them fifty thousand times to brush their teeth before bed in hopes that eventually they'll catch on. But once they're grown and move out, will they continue such behaviors? All we can do is provide the information and hope that they latch onto at least a few nuggets of life rules.
Sooooo, all that to say this. I am going to be working on a series of posts with the topic "Girl 101" in mind. I'm not sure where exactly to start but I have MANY ideas. As you read this and the posts to come, please feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions you might have. I will do my best to research and supply my input. Be warned though. I am not an expert. I also have a warped sense of humor. Do with that as you will.
P.S. This series *might* reveal some of our deep dark secrets, ladies. So keep the devices away from the boys.
So, If you've read my previous posts, you know that I have six children. 👩👨👧👧👧👦The oldest is a fifteen year old girl, then an (almost) 13 year old boy, then three more girls aged seven, five, and four, and taking up the rear is the little man, he's two. Needless to say, I am going through some very different phases in my mothering journey. They're all challenging and they are all amazing in their own ways. But right now, in this time of my life, the most challenging is TEENAGE-DOM! It's really a huge surprise that I have any hair left on my head because sister, let. me. tell. you. It is ROUGH!! 😬Even though I have two teenagers in the house, this series is going to be focused on my eldest daughter. Maybe not specifically, but generally speaking, about all things girl.
Growing up with a very conservative and religious background, I feel that there were a lot of things that just weren't talked about. Now that I am older, I have talked to my girlfriends many times about this exact thing. Things like, "Why did no one tell us?" and "I didn't know that until I was married, or out of the home or, fill in the blank!" "I wish someone would've told me what to expect." have been mentioned more than a couple times. I'm not trying to bash my mom, or your mom or even you for choosing to censor your child from certain things. My mom and probably yours, made those decisions because they thought that was best for us at that time in our lives. But here we are now, with our girls feeling so lost, confused, and just plain ol' uninformed. You do you, make your choices, that's cool bro. 👌
Our children don't come with manuals. But wouldn't it be so much easier if they did? Yes, we have The Bible, and it is amazing! It literally has all the answers. But we also have knowledge passed down from our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, books, and online sources. And that's ALL great! It's all info that we should be passing down to our girls. But do we? And if not, why??
I can still remember very vividly, as if it happened yesterday, the day that my grandma introduced me to Emily Post. I was sitting in the basement of her house, on the couch, next to my grandpa who was watching hockey. My grandma walked by to go into the laundry room, and as she walked by she said to me, "You could be filling out thank you cards for all your birthday presents instead of watching that (pointing to the hockey game). That's what Emily Post would do." Now, of course I had no idea what or who she was talking about, and I probably didn't care. But as a sixteen year old girl, I heard what she said. Now almost twenty years later, I still have severe guilt over the fact that I NEVER send thank you cards. Emily Post would be SMH-ing if she could see me now! We can't make our children remember every little thing we tell them. We can tell them fifty thousand times to brush their teeth before bed in hopes that eventually they'll catch on. But once they're grown and move out, will they continue such behaviors? All we can do is provide the information and hope that they latch onto at least a few nuggets of life rules.
Sooooo, all that to say this. I am going to be working on a series of posts with the topic "Girl 101" in mind. I'm not sure where exactly to start but I have MANY ideas. As you read this and the posts to come, please feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions you might have. I will do my best to research and supply my input. Be warned though. I am not an expert. I also have a warped sense of humor. Do with that as you will.
P.S. This series *might* reveal some of our deep dark secrets, ladies. So keep the devices away from the boys.
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