Where did this child come from?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Reading the messy dorm room started me contemplating my younger child.
She has been gone just over week and won’t be home till summer- ( then just home for a few days before she goes off to her camp counselor job)
She had time to clean her room before she left * and pack* her stuff for camp.</p>

<p>I would have * never* been able to do that. I was putting on my makeup in the car on the way to my wedding! & I didn’t even have children!!
I certainly am not organized enough to clean before I leave ( unless everything is actually in the car- then I just sweep :wink: )</p>

<p>I look at pictures on her bookshelf of her and her friends- She looks like an amazingly confident, strong and beautiful young woman- I do a doubletake to realize she is actually related to me. It was so hard for both of us, when she was 7 to about 11 years old, that I spent the next few years just recovering, and it is like those two girls are two different people. :confused:</p>

<p>She was strong willed starting from before she was born , but I just kept telling myself, being strong willed will be to her benefit when she is an adult. She knows what she wants and she goes after it.</p>

<p>( I am still trying to make up my mind- what can I say?)</p>

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<p>My D1 also has been strong willed since the day she was born. She was always more mature than her peers. She is strong, confident and beautiful. And she is also very smart.</p>

<p>It quickly became apparent she did not need my guidance after she went to college. It was very hard for me to accept and we had some very rough patches. She is a junior in college now, and I think we have achieved a comfortable relationship. I know she can totally take care of herself–school wise, job wise, health wise. But we have regular, lengthy conversations on the phone.</p>

<p>She has been offered a very lucrative selective IB internship for the summer (2nd summer in a row), is arranging a 1st semester senior yr abroad, where she will be writing her honors thesis, entirely on her own. She has a very high gpa at college, has 3 jobs, does volunteer work and is a leader in several ec’s at school. Her bf is 7 1/2 yrs older than she. (Just stating to indicate her maturity.)</p>

<p>I often look at her and wonder how she came out of my body. How the he** did I and h produce this person??</p>

3

<p>Give yourselves a huge pat on the back - Parenting is so much work and we need to appreciate ourselves.</p>