Greetings. I am M.O.M. That is, I am a mother, but more specifically, I am mom on a mission. My MOM qualifications include a Degree in Human Services with specializations in Counseling and Psychology, experience working in adolescent mental health facilities, Child Protective Services, the Juvenile Court system, and residential facilities. Not to mention I am struggling with being the mother of a 13 year old son. Struggling not because he is a troubled or difficult child, struggling because it is HARD and the stakes are HUGE.
All of my training and experience is meaningless when it comes to my own son. I have to be caretaker, educator, policy maker, and sometimes Judge and Jury on my mission to enable my son to make good decisions, protect his own best interests, achieve his full potential at school and grow up healthy and well adjusted. In other words, this is the hardest job I have ever had!
I struggle daily, walking the tight rope of encouraging independence, allowing natural consequences and resisting the urge to overprotect. I worry about the access strangers can have to my child via a multitude of electronic portholes. I worry about the "fast lane" choices he is faced with, at an age when his decision making skills still require training wheels. My concern about the prevalence of bullying is ever present. I think kids today do the same things kids did 30 years ago, they just do them at a much younger age, to greater extremes, and with more serious consequences.
Hopefully some of my trials and tribulations will further your missions as parents. I look forward to hearing your struggles and concerns as well. Together, we MOMs can raise a generation of really terrific citizens. After all, being a mom may be hard, but there is nothing that brings me more joy than seeing my son rise to the life before him.
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MOM on a Mission is written by a suburban Atlanta mother who prefers to remain anonymous so she can be candid and sincere about the everyday trials of the parent child relationship, while protecting her family's privacy.