As y’all know, we’ve got a 16 year old who is slowly transitioning to our home. Right now she is spending weekends with us, with the goal of having her move in within the next month or so.
She’s a fun kid, who loves Tiny and it’s mutual. She loves to pick up Tiny and swing her around and dip her upside down which is greeted with shrieks of delighted laughter. Tiny can’t pronounce our teen’s name and has come up with her own shortened version of it which is adorable. She wakes up in the morning and wants to go on a quest for the teen, who is not keen on rising at six something in the morning on her weekends so we have to try to shush and distract Tiny for a few hours in the morning. There’s some major adoration going on!
Yesterday, our teen and I did a girls only afternoon and got pedicures and manicures and had a lot of fun. She’s got some wicked claws going on right now! I’m living vicariously because, while they look fabulous, they would drive me absolutely bananas.
While things are going well, it’s not all smooth sailing. We’ve had to engage in a crash course in parental controls on a Chromebook and on an iPhone in an effort to keep our teen safe. Technology is a blessing and a curse, and is scary during the teenage years. Thankfully, between Apple’s controls, Chromebook’s controls, and the Wi-Fi network, we are able to put in place a lot of limits on the activity that can be conducted on any particular device.
We are getting a tremendous amount of support from our teen’s caseworker, who is amazing. She was our caseworker for years before she transferred to her new position, so we already had a great rapport with her, but it’s been a joy to see her working in this new capacity and witness how amazing she is. Our teen likes her too. We are also getting great support from the facility where our teen is currently living. And perhaps the best support is from an outside agency that is providing a case manager, a therapist, and a skill builder for our teen. Most of the services haven’t started yet, but the case manager has been fantastic and is meeting with Seth and me regularly and is on call at all hours in case issues arise.
I’ve also got a little teen parents support group going on through Messenger with three amazing women from college who are also raising teenagers right now. Their insights and support are absolutely invaluable. they are all savvy, insightful, thoughtful, and caring. Having that kind of group that I can instantly reach out to with thoughts, questions, triumphs, and crises is proving to be a major sanity saver.
Whether she realizes it or not, our teen has a whole hell of a lot of people pulling for her and working hard to keep her safe and give her good shot at a happy future.
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