Parenting teenagers in their last years of high school isn’t for the weak or weary. Especially when you want to keep them on track. It's a balance of telling them you want them to do better than you and not to do what I did… yet without actually telling them what you did! We try to give them space to spread their wings and bring them back when they stray a bit. Yes, I got in trouble like most teens but I was a good kid, and my kids are good people, too! I just need them to realize the good that they have to reach their full potential in their life as they reach adulthood!
One morning as I drove my youngest to school I was keeping an eye on my older twins as they drove themselves to school. For some reason my daughter's Life360 tracker got “stuck” in the high school parking lot. And I knew full well that most of the time the app program didn’t glitch, but she had turned it off. So my radar turned on!
Now the thing that my daughter didn’t know is that while she shut off Life360 her iPhone was still in tracking mode and through the powers that be… I could see right where she was! And that’s right where I headed! To McDonalds, for a cup of coffee, I went!
I pulled into the parking lot and saw her friend's car. Yep, they were here! I parked and went inside and my daughter seeing me coming in headed straight for the bathroom. As I entered McDonalds I saw the women’s bathroom door close. I approached her friends who were standing in the McDonald’s lobby with their mouth’s open, staring at me, with goofy looks!
I asked them in a surprised voice “what are they doing here?” I said I was getting some coffee and what a coincidence! But they were supposed to be in class at school. Yes, they replied but they needed some food first.
And then my daughter appeared out of the bathroom with a silly look on her face. What a coincidence, I exclaimed! She was totally embarrassed. And I realized this moment was a great teaching moment for them. I asked them who they were hurting by not being in class, it certainly wasn’t the teacher. They said it was themselves.
And then I came up with the saying, “Are you mastering your day?” No, they confirmed they were not. And so the saying stuck and her friends will now text me or tell me when they see me their successes they are having and that they are mastering their day! I actually love where it has gone and I’m pretty sure I left a pretty big impression on them about doing the best they can in all they do!
So, I ask you, too! Are you mastering your day? It doesn’t take much, just do the things you should be doing! A regular day or off on an adventure, are you doing the right thing for yourself?