Oh, yes, being a parent is hard. It sucks some days. But nothing is more rewarding. We adopted our 2 kids. Son was 7, daughter 4, they were siblings. Son was a real challenge. Daughter was a treat. We called her Bobbi Barbi. Then, puberty. Bobbi Barbi became Bobbi bin laden. Literally, overnight. And for the next 10 years she hated us. But now all is good. She had our granddaughter, the most beautiful, smartest, best granddaughter ever. Really.
Maybe it's a girl thing. My sweet sunshine turned into a dark storm cloud from age 12 to about 18. Now at 24 she's back to sweet sunshine. Never experienced that with my sons.
Boy do I know that feeling!! But I have three kids, so I tend to focus some time on the ones that do not happen make me feel that nothing stuck or make me feel disrespected during those tough times. I imagine its harder if you only have one, and he/she is causing you grief, worry or pain.
Yeah, we said when son hit puberty he was proof that dirt won't conduct electricity. He grew out of it and is a fine man today.
The thing about boys is they always think they are smarter and you have to read instructions to pour sand out of a shoe. The end result was when my son thanked us for raising him the way we did. Now he has boys and he understands.
Regular readers know that I have a daughter. A grown daughter. Who has provided the world with the smartest, most beautiful, most advanced grand daughter ever. She also owns 3 horses. Like most thing she likes, she's gone full tilt into horses. This is not just an idle pursuit. So she announced that she will be going to a game preserve in South Africa. She'll be a "volunteer wrangler", taking care of horses, and going on horseback Safaris. For 3 weeks. Does any of this sound sketchy to anyone? South Africa. 3 weeks. Huh. So I reach out to son in law, to find out, you know WHAT THE **** ARE YOU THINKING?? Cause, see, hubby doesn't go on these vacations with daughter. He stays home with grand daughter, and the 10 dogs, and the 2 pigs, and the 30 hens and the two cats and the 3 horses. Turns out, hubby has some issues with this as well. Cause, you know, wild animals (the reserve claims a pet Cheetah that hasn't bit anyone this year. Yet.) and kidnappers and such. So he did some checking. He knows people, and they know people you see. Well, his surfing buddy is actually from South Africa, and in fact his parents have their own game reserve. Not the one daughter is going to be at. But close. In fact it sounds like it's right next door. So anyway, the surfing buddy said the deal daughter is onto is legit and has a good reputation. No one has been kidnapped there, and the animals haven't hurt anyone permanently, just a few nips and bruises and such. Well, and there was that incident with the hippo chasing a horse for a mile, to, you know, eat the horse. It didn't catch the horse, but the rider was thrown. They said they were grateful the hippo kept after the horse, cause if the hippo had gone for the rider it would have been ugly. Huh. They did say that poachers in the area can be an issue, but they don't kidnap you, they just kill you. So anyway, son in law is good with this, not that he could stop daughter if he really had issues with it. Which we can relate to. Daughter hasn't been turned away from anything she really wanted since she was a teenager. So then I talked to daughter. And she's all excited about horses and South Africa and Elephants and Giraffes and such. And she pooh poohed the idea that it might be, you know, dangerous. Well, fine. She is an adult. But I'm still her daddy, and I'm entitled to worry. South Africa. Horse Safari. 3 weeks. Jesus.
From what I've seen, genetics will play a huge role in determining how hard it is to raise children. This includes ethnicity, race, class, and geographical gene pool. And life circumstances of the parent can also, in many cases, play a big role in how hard it is to raise children.
The more rural areas in South Africa are actually reasonably safe. If something bad were to happen to her, it would be most likely if she stayed around a big city area too long, for example right after disembarking from the airport. The most likely bad things that could happen is robbery of her wallet and possibly valuable belongings, or sexual assault (including possibly by two or three men). It would be unlikely any of the employees or visitors at the game reserve would pose a danger to her. The other possible danger to worry about would be falling off a horse, which can result in some severe injuries. And in my opinion that would be something to worry about just as much as those other two dangers already mentioned.
I'm not as worried about daughter falling. She was a gymnast for many years and knows how to protect herself in a fall. Shes been unhorsed many times while gaining horse skills, apparently 2 er visits is par for the course. I am concerned about poachers and unpredictable animals. She's such an animal lover she'd be the one to pet their cheetah. Son in law has his south African friends on alert. Apparently the friends are the equivalent of our seals and will keep an eye out for her. But, she's going and as usual no one will change her mind.
You will probably suffer more than she does. Give her your blessings and tell her to be aware of everything around her.The three weeks will pass slowly for you but for her it will be a blur of speed in her life. Tell her to call you every night and keep you posted on what is going on. (Hopefully they have phone service.) Most of all tell her how much you love her.
Of course blessings and a promise we're here for her no matter what, and no, you cannot bring home a cheetah as a pet. But just now she's in Italy, celebrating he bday on a girls trip. Girl has wanderlust, good for her.
I have lived with wanderlust, when you can go it is good and when you have to be still not so good. I sometimes feel like there is Gypsy in my DNA.
