Growing Pains

I need to preface this post by saying that I have been quite a bit more restrictive with Courtney and Jacob than I have been with the other children. Experience has taught me well that giving too much too soon has yielded a sense of entitlement that is, well, it's just downright unattractive and obnoxious.

Courtney has been hammering on me of late to get her a cell phone. I have not given in. Honestly, she has no outside interests that take her away during the afternoons. It's not that I don't let her have a hobby, she just has never expressed an interest in anything. She is easily distracted and struggles academically.

Okay, so on Thursday we are driving to school. Courtney strikes up the convo again - that one that brings on a fierce hot flash. "Mom, how come Robbie had a cell phone in 6th grade and I still don't have one?" (Oh crap, here we go again). I explain that Robbie was out at the ranch every day after school riding his horses and that he needed to contact me when he was ready to be picked up. Also, I wanted him to have it in case there was an emergency (we ARE dealing with kids riding jumping horses, after all). Robert also had a pretty active social life and I needed to know where he was when he was "hanging out" with his friends. She didn't like this answer and pouted all the way to school. When we arrived at school she jumped out of the car, without an "I love you" or a kiss, slammed the door and was gone. Nice.

Another area that has been a struggle is with her hair. She had long beautiful hair until early this summer. Day after day it was a matted mess. I would often take over and brush it out because it was such a disaster. Finally, one day I had had enough and took her to the beauty shop to get it cut. She was pretty ticked off at me at first but then when it came time to pick out a hair style that she would like, she was excited and was pretty happy about her new hair cut.

Okay, so we fast forward to this last Friday. We are, once again, on our way to school. I'm happy and in a good mood. I've enjoyed watching my sunrise and am happy that her and I are not arguing. Until . . . she says, "Mom, I want to get extensions put in my hair. I want long hair like all the popular girls at school have." (Oh crap). I try to gently explain and remind her of the struggle we went through just a few months ago with her long hair and how she wasn't able to wash, dry or take care of it when it was so long. I also revealed to her that the cost of such a procedure was pretty intense and that I didn't feel that that was a wise choice. I further informed her that she was so lucky and was blessed with great genes that allowed her hair to grow so fast and that her hair would be long on its own before she knew it. Well, this did not set well with my little girl. Once again, we were in a snit and pouted all the way to school. I was treated to the whole replay of the previous day when she departed from my vehicle. Sweet.

Well, I haven't seen her since that interaction. I've been in LA visiting with Skip. I'm heading home today to see how the climate is in my home. I'm hoping that she's had an opportunity to mull it all over and chill out about it. However, experience has taught me well that teenagers don't give up. They are like a dog with a bone when they want something. Heaven help me.