At the end of a recent evening talk, a woman came up and said, “Eighty percent of my relationship with my twelve-year-old daughter is amazing. We’re close and connected, but there’s one thing I’d like to run by you.”  Lifting her eyebrows, she confessed, “My daughter’s embarrassed by me!”

The woman continued, “I mean, when I was her age I was embarrassed by my mom, but that was different because my mom WAS embarrassing!” 

She rolled her eyes at the irony and we both smiled. 

I reassured her, “Your daughter’s embarrassment is normal, and it’s something I’ve experienced regularly from my own sixteen-year-old daughter in recent years. But I can almost promise you she will outgrow it.  The best thing you can do is have a sense of humor about it with yourself and with her.  If you can hold her criticism lightly and keep laughing, she’ll experience you as a mom who’s strong and grounded in her self worth. 

I’m no stranger to the pain and vulnerability that comes with parenting a young teen, so my advice for this parent stems from my continuing to move forward, ego bruises and all!

As I reflected on her question, I thought about how Gretchen Schmelzer describes how trust between parent and child is built through our “endless thereness”:  

 …. trust is built not because you are loved, but because someone loved you anyway. They loved you when you were angry, or messy, or cranky or a total and complete pain in the ass. They loved you when you forgot, or remembered—when you said it or when you didn’t say it. They didn’t love you because you could do it—they loved you anyway, even when you couldn’t.

As a parent, loving our child despite the hard times is what builds trust.  This call for our endless thereness is one reason parenting is so challenging, but it is also why it has the potential to radically change us. Kids give us the opportunity to love another person not because they are always lovable, but because we’ve made the commitment to love them.

We’re there and love our child anyway when: 

• we get yet another voice message alert that our child has cut class.
• we learn that our child lied to us about their plans.
• our child climbs on the dining table while we’re trying to share a family meal.
• our child is embarrassed by us, for no good reason 😣

We love them anyway.

Can you relate to this story?  Do you have questions?  It’s so supportive to know we are not alone!  Please share in the comment below.

***. I’m offering an in-person (Sept12) and via Zoom (Sept 14) 7-week parenting series in the East Bay beginning Sept12 and and two  8-week Writing Circles, via Zoom, beginning August 25 & 29.