Giving Birth to Your Best Friend: Mothers and Teenage Daughters

My mother always told me, “When you have a daughter you are giving birth to your best friend.” As I grew older and had a daughter of my own, that statement began to really ring true for me. You may be reading this and thinking Why don’t I feel like that? or Why do I and my teenage daughter constantly argue?   Do not misunderstand me, raising a teenage daughter is a lot of work. Through the years, we have had many battles and many wars. Some I have won, and some I have definitely lost: arguments over friends, boyfriends, clothing that shows too much skin, curfews and school work. I remember walking away from arguments and feeling like she hates me and I am a failure as mother. But those will probably be the times that she remembers the most. Those are the turning points in her life that I helped her to grow, develop, and learn to cope with different situations in her life. It is important to be a parent, not a friend, and to give boundaries to our daughters as we help to mold them into independent, self-assured women. It is then, when they are old enough and have become their own person, that your daughter can become your best friend. As a mom raising a teenage daughter, I am compelled to want to fix her problems. When she is broken hearted, my heart aches; when she is mad at her friends, I feel mad too. These are the times I share my experiences with her and reassure her that all will be alright in time. At seventeen years old, I remember thinking that my mom had n...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Children and Teens College Communication Parenting Personal Women's Issues Adolescence Motherhood Teenager Source Type: blogs