I have not been a parent of a teen for long and, unlike most parents, I didn’t get to make way into it day by day. It happened in just one day. And it is about to happen again.
You see, my husband and I were foreign exchange parents last year and are about to be this year, too.
And although I made a few mistakes, I think I did a few things right, too.
When Emma (our Danish daughter) came to live with us, I presented her with a simple spiral notebook in which I wrote a short welcome note. Then I suggested she write back to me. And the notebook went back and forth until I tucked it into her luggage for her flight home.
I started the journal as a way to communicate about things she might be too shy to say face to face, but wanted to share. I also started it as a way to make her feel welcomed right away and have some type of momento and journal of her thoughts when our time was up.
I loved our little notebook and, to be honest, I was sad to let it go with Emma in June.
It did turn out to be a great way to talk about some things and share our thoughts when we could sit and think them out completely by ourselves. Sure, we shared lots of light notes, but we also had our share of deep thoughts and opinions in there.
I just bought a new notebook for our new daughter who arrives from Germany this week.
And I think I’ll even start one with my almost nine-year-old son.
I can’t wait to get started writing to each of them… and reading what they write back to me.
This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.
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