Oh how we love teens!
Since Thursday, Dan and I have had the opportunity to stay/watch one of our friend’s, friend’s kid, who’s a sophomore in high school. Crazy how this all came to be, but it has been such a great experience! We have watched over high schoolers before by being their “parents” for the week and each time we always learn alot! We are just sometimes surprised by the fact that they would want US to watch their kids, considering we don’t have any – but most assume that since we work with teenagers on a daily basis, that parenting/watching them for an extended weekend isn’t a big deal – and it’s not! We had such a great time! Challenging at times with our schedule b/c for those of you who know us, we have a VERY random and not normal schedule, so to throw in someone who actually has a schedule, gets interesting. But everything went very smoothly and another friendship/relationship was made with a high schooler. I actually miss him already!
I think what strikes us the most is that God continually brings opportunities into our life to work or even “parent” teens. I know we are crazy, but we absolutely LOVE teens! There definitely is a fine balance b/w being the authority and acting like a teen with them, but each time we learn more and more what that boundary line is. There is so much to be learned from teens yet so many write them off as being naive, making dumb decisions, and are just plain immature. We have learned that each teen is different, so to lump them into categories, is just setting them up for failure. Each teen has their own struggles – each teen has their own interests – each teen has their own individual way of opening up. Over the past couple of years I’ve realized that it takes time – even years – to build that open relationship – but I feel that it’s always available – it just takes work. Work that is exhausting and frustrating at times, but work that is so incredibly worth it in the end!
Teens never fail to amaze and teach me. I was humbled this weekend to see how God continues to use us in teens lives and we pray that those opportunities continue to come!
