Columns
Ouch That Really Hurt !
By Sheila Osburn
27, Jan 2002 - 16:30

I love being a parent! This is one of the greatest joys in my life! This also can be one of the most difficult tasks in my life! There are so many emotions involved because my whole heart and soul are into my children. What affects them affects me. I am entering a new stage that many of you have already entered. I think by nature when something unfortunate happens, as a parent, I am use to action - doing something to make everything all better. Now my daughter is sixteen soon to be seventeen. Last week she was terribly disappointed, terribly sad over incidents that occurred at school. From an adult looking at her situation this truly was a "stepping stone" "character building" this is a difficult concept to relay to the person hurting. My daughter was in such pain and so sad, I truly felt this in my heart, my heart ached for her. This is one of the first times, I couldn’t just give her a hug, or put a band aide on, take her for ice cream to make her feel all better! I couldn’t take this hurt away; she had to be the one to “make it better” What I could do is tell her I love her and I am here for her. As a parent I felt completely helpless, torn up inside. My daughter had to do some growing this week and so did I. The realization I had is this is just the beginning of having an adult child, and as my daughter gets older she will experience growing up difficulties and just dealing with life. I know I can’t take it away with a kiss and a band aide, but I can be there for her, I can listen to her, I still can give her a big hug, and always reassure her I love her. As for me I grew in ways of realizing my daughter really does have her own life to live, and will have her own set of “stepping stones’ and “character builders” to deal with. This is her part of growing up and it really sunk in she really does have her own life to live. I have always known this in theory, but now I know what it feels like. I'm ready, I can do this, I can let her grow up!

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