Teen Drama Begins At 12

 

I’ve heard from some moms that the teen drama can actually start way before the teen years begin and here I am to tell you that for me, the teen drama begins at 12. Make no mistake, I’m counting myself lucky at this point, that we’ve been able to keep it at bay especially since I have 4, yes 4, daughters that will eventually all become moody, hormonal teenagers in a blink of an eye.

sigh

For the past few months there has been a feud going on at school and without going into details, because lets face it, the details aren’t even relevant at this point, it’s been a constant daily dialog with my kid about how bad her day was at the hands of a group of people who she thought were her friends. What was once a happy, cohesive little group of girls has now been divided into two groups with poor communication thus the drama begins. I’ve done my very best to give her all the tools to deal with the situation on her own but at some point, the mama bear has to step in.

 

It’s so difficult to have to watch my kid deal with the heart ache of friendships falling apart and all the drama and headache that goes along with it. We’ve spent a lot of time talking and bonding over it. But for all the talking I’m doing, sometimes I feel like the teacher from Charlie Brown and even I would tune me out.

After all the talking and crying and hugging, we had to take a break. During one of our Netflix nights, we picked a few shows that yes, exaggerate the drama, but also have good lessons and where great for showing her how ridiculous the overall situation can be once you look at it from a far. If only I’d known all of this when I was her age. Mean Girls was a great example of the spiral of drama and gossip and how in the end being the real you and kind is most important.

It was so great to watch together with both my pre-teen girls and laugh and be able to discuss or answer questions. The most common question was, “is that really going to happen when we’re in junior high or high school?” And my response was, “I sure hope not but you never know!” and “If someone tries to throw a slushy at your face, duck!” Of course, all jokes aside, we also talked about what they would do if they were in similar situations as the characters in the show/movie and I found that actually, they both have really solid heads on those tiny shoulders and came up with smart strategies.

Score one big point for mom!

At the end of the day, I hope they never have to experience the level of drama that we watched in Mean Girls, I hope they never end up in detention like the Breakfast Club and I hope they find a group of people who care about them and will help them carry a tune like in Glee.

Wish me luck.