Turnt Down 

I have a newly spry and happy go lucky 14-year-old daughter. She is in full-blown teenager mode and I find myself in the thick of this obscure awkward phase of our relationship. Parenting along side of the teenage GIRL is an odd slippery slope and sometimes a really fun precious place to be.

My baby girl is highly social and has a ton of friends.  She does very well in school and kills it on the athletic front!  Thankfully, she’s coordinated and I give all the athletic genetic kudos to Mr. Chicken Fry.  I only look athletic.

In my expert opinion, baby girl is at the perfect age to learn the value and benefits of a regular exercise program.  Particularly weight training and agility drills which would only improve her sports.  She plays girls lacrosse, basketball, volleyball and track. I have encouraged and invited her to join a workout group or invite her friends for a FREE training session.

Do any of you out there think she’s interested in being trained by her MOTHER?  Absolutely not!  She could care less about working out under my instruction.

This past Saturday afternoon was delightfully lazy. We all spread out for naps and vegging.  Around 4pm  I got a burst of energy and politely asked baby girl to join me for a walk around the block.  I must have been over taken by the energy surge and temporarily out of my mind by the way my daughter reacted.  People, I received an exaggerated eye roll and with a long yawn, “No thanks mom.”  As if… she would rather watch paint dry.

I explained that I was only going out to walk the dog and not to pound the pavement.  For a second I delighted in the thought we would tie our tennis shoes and walk together and  chit chat like girlfriends. I pictured us laughing and bonding over girly girl stuff. I even projected that this might become like a regular thing between us.  I went as far to  envision her asking me to join her for long walks while she confides in me and asks for advice.  I saw tears of joy, laughter, maybe hugging, praying and a wee bit of hand holding, You know, just like in the commercials.

Oh Lord, help me now.  Turnt down by my teen! Baby girl gave me just about every nice excuse under the sun.  I’m too sore,  I’m tired, I just want to lay here and watch Grey’s Anatomy! I’m good, no thanks,  I really just  want to rest.  It’s too hot outside right now, I’m hungry, I really comfy in the bean bag.

Y’all, minutes later, before I could assemble the dog collar and tie my shoes, she received a text from “D-Crew” her group of cronies, inviting her to walk the city streets!  My child jumped out of her blanket cocoon at mach speed.  I seriously think she broke her own record of quickly dressing and tossing her hair in a messy bun.  Before I could step foot out the door, she was JOGGING up the street to meet her friends at the corner.

What the heck just happened?  Really?  I could feel rejection swelling up inside my chest.    Come on, I remember what it was like and it’s totally understandable she wants to be with her friends instead of her “uncool” trainer mom.  But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s not weird and tragically sad.

The truth is, if she wanted to stay home all the time and was clingy all up in my business I would be miserable.  I would probably take her to the doctor because something would  have to be askew for a teenager to willingly hang out or heaven forbid walk around the block with their mom! RIGHT??

The upside of this little episode in teenager ville was that she traded the static fetal position for fellowship, sunlight and exercise!

AWHH the joys of raising teens!

Love, peace and tell only your best friends please!

Angi xo

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s workout video post!  It’s KamaKAZZIE good!