You know what’s worse than trying to figure out what you’re going to be when you grow up?
Helping someone else try to figure out what they’re going to be when they grow up.
Perhaps other mothers of growing up children will understand this terror. Or perhaps I am the only mother who knows what I mean. So many mothers I know have growing up kids who are on the traditional path to adulthood. Mine are not, so far.
Moms of new babies compare notes, mostly as a way to brag, I think. Is your baby sleeping through the night? Did your baby roll over yet? How many words does your baby say? Have you figured out how to wean your baby?
And other mothers chime in because babies can’t read what their mothers say on the Internet.
Those were the days. So much simpler and so much easier when the future was beyond the horizon. Now the future is about to barge through the front door without so much as a polite knock. So rude.
Actual Unretouched Photo 
Just remember this is just like when they were little~they all progress at different times and different ways. Don’t compare! Work with what God has given you. Eventually they move forward and mature. Don’t fret.
LikeLike
I remember those feelings well. Will it help if I tell you that it turns out even better than you expect? Because it does.
LikeLike
I have two teens, 18 and 16, and neither one is going to have a “traditional” path. The 18yo has chronic pain issues, and her whole life revolves around that. She has lots of goals, but everything is going slower than for her friends, because she can’t physically do school or work full-time. It’s not easy for me, watching it, but I help however I can.
My son is 16, and wants to be a pastor. Oh, you say, he’s got his plan already! Well, not really. He has learning disabilities that will make it hard for him to attend traditional seminary, so we keep marching towards high school graduation without a clue as to how he will accomplish that to which God has called him. At least with him, I am sure that he will be okay.
And then there’s me. I’ve done so many different things, work-wise. I’d love to make a decent living, so I can either live alone eventually (don’t ask), or at least be able to get our heads above water on a regular basis. It seems that everything I want to do takes YEARS to accomplish, and I just don’t have the time or money to make it happen that way.
ANYWAY, all that is to say, I feel ya, sister.
LikeLike
I would trade two 18-year-old daughters for a roomful of babies and toddlers.
Both of my adult kids have made it clear they have no thought at all of what they’d like to do career-wise, let alone what they’re good at doing. For years I warned them it would happen, and it has: life has come knocking and they weren’t expecting it.
Panic is their motivator now. My sixteen-year-old and her eight-year-old brother are taking notes, thankfully.
LikeLike