OMG, I Have a Teenager

Musings on 13 years of parenting.

My son turned 13 yesterday. We celebrated by taking him over the weekend to the American Dream Mall — the second largest shopping mall in North America, boasting an indoor amusement park, indoor water park, and indoor ski mountain — which, no thank you. But he had a great time, at least. (Except for when he almost threw up on a roller coaster.)

I honestly can’t believe I’ve been a parent for 13 years. I know that some of the hardest parenting moments are likely still ahead of me, but I have been reflecting on the fact that a lot of the fears I had when my son was young — about who he would become, how he would fare in this increasingly complex world — have mellowed.

I still worry about him, of course. But I worry about him a lot less than I used to.

When he was little, my son struggled.