Ground Rules

Last night, Jerry and I discussed our ground rules for Nicole's junior year of high school. When she got home, I called her in her room and we laid down on the bed and just started talking.

I told her now that she was an upperclassman, she could be home at 9pm on school nights (instead of 8pm last year). I wasn't going to monitor to see if she did her homework, started her projects, got the materials needed for the projects, etc... She wants more privileges, she needs to manage these areas of her life. She agreed.

I did tell her, however, that I would be watching her grades for zeroes. Any zero is grounds for immediate loss of driving privileges. Again, agreement. Our child has a tendency to NOT turn in work she's done. Can we say L.A.Z.Y.??????

There was a lot more, but no reason to go into every detail here. It just seemed that it went smoothly and I think a lot of it was my own approach to giving her the information. I need to remember that, as a teen, she needs to feel more in charge of her life and the choices made for her.

We'll see how it goes as the year progresses. Nicole is strictly a social animal. I am not exaggerating. Her ENTIRE being survives on being in her circle of friends and having "that special someone" in her life.

I keep telling her she's a flower and the boys are bees. Flowers don't chase bees.

My flower chases bees and it scares the holy bejeebus out of them!

Seems some pruning might be in order.