I have an agreement with Miss Frugal that I won’t share photos or stories about her on here without her agreement which is absolutely fine but today is her 16th Birthday which means that the rules don’t apply, right?
I’m not going to get all mushy because I don’t want to be the recipient of a teenage eye roll today.
But what I am going to do is share some of the things that I want Miss Frugal to remember on her 16th Birthday…
NOTHING she ever does will make me love her any less!
It’s so important to me that she knows that there is nothing that she can do that will make me love her less than I do now! I have no doubt that she will make mistakes and do things that will disappoint me or will make me angry but that’s a part of growing up so as much as I know I’ll react in the moment, I want her to know that whatever happens, I’ll be there for her and will do my very best to help her with anything she needs.
She can call me ANYTIME, no matter what and I will go to her, no questions asked and no judgement!
I know she’ll make mistakes because, let’s face it, she’s going to think she’s invincible and she’s going to think she knows better than me. I can’t stop that from happening but I can make sure that she knows that no matter what situation she gets into, she just needs to pick up her phone and I’ll go to her. I won’t be angry, I won’t make judgements and I won’t punish her – I just want to be certain that she knows 100% that I will go to her rescue at any point and she won’t be made to regret calling me.
I remember going out just after my 18th Birthday and getting very very drunk. I ended up making a reverse charges call to my Mam and Dad who came and got me and then held my hair while I was sick. The next morning, they didn’t tell me off or judge me, they just made sure I was OK and gently pointed out that they hoped I’d learned something which I most certainly had. I’d obviously learned that random shots would make me sick but more importantly, I’d learned that my parents were pretty amazing and that I could turn to them when I needed them, no matter what. I want to the THAT kind of parent.
**I feel like I should say here that I’m not going to just sit back and wait for them to make mistakes so I can prove how understanding and approachable I can be as a parent. I will be doing my absolute best to educate both of my children to prevent them getting into situations like this but because I know I can’t control them, this is my Plan B.**
I will ALWAYS help her get out of uncomfortable situations!
I work hard to teach Miss Frugal that she doesn’t need to follow the crowd and that she should never do something that she’s uncomfortable with but at the same time, I’m pretty sure that at some point she’s going to find it difficult to say no. She’s friends with an amazing group of girls so it’s not been a problem yet but we’re ready if it ever is.
As much as I want her to be able to say no, I get that peer pressure can be hard to ignore so we have a solution that I read about a while ago (I can’t for the life of me find where it was though) which we can put into action if we need to. Basically, if she needs or wants to get away from a situation, she can text me and I will ring her in a couple of minutes and make up an excuse on why she needs to come home. I will say anything I need to say to help her excuse herself and then go get her if she needs that.
I love the relationship that Miss Frugal and I have but it doesn’t come without effort – it’s completely worth it though!
Happy Birthday lovely lady!
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