Today I am reminded of a comment my grandmother once made about growing up as a teenager in a small town during WWII. A friend and co-worker of her mother’s was there for her. It was a really difficult time for my grandmother, her father and brothers off at war. in a small town, with small town dynamics, all her plans for the future on hold, the world and life in flux. To have that trusted adult, who was not her mother or family, in her world, was so very special and critically important to her.
For me there’s a two part lesson in that, one as a parent, it’s important to encourage and/or let my teens have other trusted adults to count on, to talk to, to draw from and two, to be willing and able to be a trusted adult to other teens who might be struggling.
This is true for “normal life” but even more so now, when life is uncertain, and changing, and plans made are now on hold, or in flux. Our teens are at a point where they are already, as part of normal development, going through change and growth, and flux. And now, once again, life itself is not stable or normal.
To have someone to talk to is important. It’s a good and healthy thing, to have someone trusted to talk to.
~Shannon