Being a teen is HARD! Moving when you are a teen is the pits! It is hard enough becoming a teen without all of the sudden leaving all the people who know, love and understand you. I moved when I was 13, the exact same age my oldest son is now. So I completely understand what he is going through. In many ways it is completely different too. I mean we had to send smoke signals to communicate with our friends back in the day. Today he has a cellphone, text messaging, email and instant messaging. It is a little easier to keep in contact with those you have left behind! LOL
I have probably worried more about how he is going to make new friends here than he has. My kids are funny. They have no expectations of making friends on their own! During the transition from Las Vegas to here my 2 oldest kids both let me know that they expected ME to find friend for them! I know it sounds weird, but honestly because of homeschooling I have hand picked every friend they have every had!
This is how it works:
Mom goes to homeschool meetings/park days/field trips/church/etc.
Mom meets moms she likes and kids she knows her kids will enjoy spending time with.
Mom talks to mom of said kids and makes play date.
Kids become friends.
Because of homeschooling it is not like my kids have a lot of access to the general public. They go where I go and vis-versa. This system has served us well over the years! (We have made some amazing friends along the way!)
But, here is why I have been a little nervous over finding teen friends for my son. Teens and their Mom's don't hang out at the park! You can't invite a teen and his mom to meet at the McDonald's Playland! LOL So I wondered how this would all work???
As always God is providing SO beautifully! The new homeschool group we have joined has a separate sub-group just for the teens! Monday I was able to attend a "Mom of Teens" coffee and meet the other mom's of teens! (YAY! They are a lovely bunch of ladies!) Then Tuesday night the group had get together for all the teens. There were 20 some teens who got together at one of the mom's houses and ate pizza and played Bunco. My son had a blast! They are going to be meeting like this twice a month doing all kinds of things like swimming, seeing movies, playing board games, etc. (There will be occasional family events too!)
This whole teen group has taken such a load off my mind! I am so grateful that God has answered yet another prayer so beautifully! I know it will take time for him to build relationships like he had in Las Vegas and California. (And no one will ever take the place of my rent-a-kid! Oh, how I MISS HIM!!!) But, I also feel encouraged that things are moving in the right direction.
I have been SO proud of my son regarding how well he has done with this move. He has been such a trooper! He has not complained about moving once and he is constantly encouraging me when I have moments where I get discouraged.
God is good! I feel SO blessed to have the relationship I do with my teen son. For those of you who only have little ones I just want to encourage you! All the hard work you are doing today is totally worth it! Yes, we do have "teen moments", life is not perfect here. But, we also have a strong relationship we have built over the years and I can really see all those years of homeschooling really paying off now that my oldest is a teen.
I moved 13 times in 12 years from K-12 and it was horrible. Our last move was when I was 14, and it was terribly sad. I had made a really good friend who was like a sister to me and I had to leave her behind. Plus my new school/city was so different and my parents didn't do much to try to help me. I am soooo glad your teen has adjusted already and is such a trooper. We have "pre-teen/teen only" groups in our city too. I had been ignoring them all this time, but this is a great reminder to put that information aside. The time will come before I know it!!!
We have homeschooled our children from the start and we love every minute of it! This is my place to share my thoughts on homeschooling, my kids and living for the Lord. All the while being a little outside the box!!
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