We have 2 teenage daughters in our home and will have a third by the middle of December when she turns 13. I actually love having teenagers. So many people told me I would dread it with all the drama and such that goes along with teenage girls. But I have yet to "dread" it.
Of course, there are challenges but what joy doesn't come with it's set of challenges? I recently experienced one of those challenges but with the help of our living prophets, apostles, and the knowledge of our Heavenly Father's plan, my daughter and I were able to learn and grow together.
The dad in our home was out of town on a business trip recently. It's hard going to school and being a single mom every now and then when he's gone, but I manage. The first night he was gone was a Monday. Since he was in the country, we decided to Facetime with him and he gave the Family Home evening lesson. Technology can be great sometimes. After FHE, I hurried the kids up to bed so I could get homework done. We have a strict rule in our house that all electronic devices get turned in at 9pm. For the most part my girls are good about turning them in even without us asking for them. That had been the case up until that night. I came down stairs forgetting about their devices and started on homework. Finally at 10:45 I went up stairs and checked on my girls and to ask for their iPod and phone. I looked at my daughters iPod to notice that she had been texting a boy up until I came into the room. I was pretty frustrated. I went to my room and read through her texts. I was beyond furious but decided that I better wait until I talked with her dad to see what the consequence should be. The next day she came home from school and told me that she felt guilty all day and realized what she had done wrong and wasn't going to do it again. I said, I'm glad but that we were still going to talk about it that night. After, piano, dinner, Young Women's, showers, and homework, we finally got to talk. We discussed the plan for our family. About Heavenly Father's plan for our family and our desire to follow that plan. We talked about sneaking and commandments and love and respect for each other. We talked about boys and being up late at night talking to them and even though you aren't physically in the same room with him, you are still alone with him. Although my daughter was scared to sit down with me, by the end of the discussion we both were feeling better. She is a good girl and it is these moments that I need to cherish when we can have a gospel discussion to teach right from wrong. I often wonder how people teach their children to be good moral human beings without the scriptures, the prophet and apostles. When we know the bigger picture of our families and eternal life, it makes it easier to want to do what's right and to teach our children to do what's right. As for the consequence, we are reevaluating on Dec. 1st whether she gets it back or not. She probably will because she is an obedient daughter and she is still pleasant and happy even while she's "deviceless".
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