Dear Michelle: Why can't my daughter manage her life better? She is 17 and an honor student, but she seems to be wasting her life away with a boyfriend who is holding her back. He consumes every waking, minute of her precious time and smooth-talks her as well. His goal is to get her to agree to go to the college of his choice, not her choice, and because his grades are lower, his choice will be limited. I feel like I want to rescue her, but she pushes me away and shuts me out. She has only brought us pride and joy; and now this! Help! A worried mother Dear Mother of a 17-year-old Girl: Hmmmmm. What's the matter with kids today? Remember that song from "Bye Bye Birdie"? Well if you do not, let me fill you in about teenagers and their life-management skills.Do not expect too much too soon because at the ripe age of 17, life-management is not within their reach, not should it be. Life experience creates both the conditions and the skills for management, and if management went before experiene, there would be tittle of it. Your daughter is an honor student for good reasons. She is smart, studies with intelligence and you have given her good Values. When the time comes for her to apply for college, and she visit the ones that were specifically desigened for student the top of their grade, she will most likely break away from her boyfriend's influenee. It is rare for an honor student to change the path of their academic career for puppy love. That being said, them might be some adoldscent wisdom in her behavior after all. Perhaps she is choosing to worry you, her parents, for unconscious reasons. Being such a good girl and being a steady source of joy might have become a bit too much for her. Let your daughter have her own private moment of 11th grade rebellion. She deserves a break from perfection. Michelle 小题1:From the mother's letter we can learn that her daughter
|