Addle Essence.
No.
Not adolescence.
ADDLE ESSENCE.
The person who was once your little child is now ADDLED in their ESSENCE (essential being, if you like me to translate in HOLISTIC terms!)
Whether BOY or GIRL, they're not your gorgeous baby any more,or the little child who would dance along the pavement with you, holding lovingly (and sometimes, tightly) to your hand.
My daughter's growth seemed to occur so suddenly!
From still being at a height where she would naturally rest her head on my shoulder,
I reached to hug her one afternoon - and collided with her EARS! They were almost on a level with mine, and I am only 176cms tall!

I got 'Mother, don't! I'm way too old for that now!'
and ended up in the lavatory in silent tears that came from my very soul. I'd lost her. It was like a little death! I didn't come from a hugging family, you see, so when I got around to having my own baby, we enjoyed plenty of hugs and reading-stories-on-mum's-knee times. I even reminded her (many a time!) that no one ever gets too old or too big for hugs!
But - there we were. And our once fun shopping sprees had become a case of 'Oh, mum! Do I HAVE to!'
Rude!
Especially as I'm the kind of mum who lets her daughter make her own fashion mistakes, and I never, never, never sent her anywhere in an outfit that screamed:
'I am a mummy's girl, and I will be a virgin for the rest of my life!'We experienced the Sexy tummy top stage a few years ago when she was a decade old - but even then, I just let her borrow a top from a friend, and let her find out for herself that a little flat chest and a puppy belly don't really cut it! She makes wise choices due to that experience, and I even let her use her magic objective on me! So - how accommodating can you be?
In the space of a week I went from being 'My beautiful mum who sings!' to DID YOU HAVE TO PUT YOURSELF IN CYBERSPACE? ON MY SPACE?' Your songs are okay for OLD rock bands,but what if my FRIENDS see you?'
I had one small achievement.Or at the time, I thought so!
A few kid bands and entertainers added themselves to my site as cyberspace fans - but then, I'm not their mother!
'Just look at this!' I proudly announced, showing her the new faces.
'Mother, they could be ANYONE!' she exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
'Don't you know that a lot of people on My Space pretend that they're other people! You were always warning ME!"
My recording session was completed with a very disinterested addle essence in the background, fortunately

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Parenting teenagers: learning to let go?
We want to hear your view. Write now!