Who are we supposed to be? Do you even know what it is you want for your life yet? Have you found your place, are you feeling fulfilled, and confident that you know which direction your life is going? Do you know who you are?

Huge questions, right? Maybe you do know, and maybe you are still figuring it out? But if we are still working on ourselves now, imagine what life was like at 14. Did you know who you were at 14? If you could go back and give yourself advice what would you say?

It honestly doesn’t feel like my life as a fourteen year old was that long ago, yet it is. But I still remember many of my fears, and much of my excitement of that age. The age where friends mattered so much, and days of coming home, and still spending hours on the phone attached to the wall talking to my girlfriends about boys, parents, school drama, and shopping. Weekend sleepovers were always on the agenda. In many ways it is an age where possibilities seem endless, yet also scary all at once. Fitting in can matter more than anything else. And even though I still recall those teenage years so well, when it comes to teens these days so much has changed.

Of course much remains the same, but when I was a teenager there was no social media, no need to know about cyber safety, I didn’t wake up at 5am with a desperate need to check my phone for messages, or check my Instagram feed. On the weekends where I was home having time with my family I might have known some of my other girlfriend’s were hanging out together, but I wasn’t seeing social media feeds of them hanging out without me, laughing and having fun, there was no visual of what I was missing out on. We could shut ourselves off so much more than the teens can these days.

In 3 sleeps I will have a teenager. I am about to be a mum to a teen!

Aspen and I have a fantastic bond, I feel really blessed with her maturity, and kind heart. Like every child, she has her moments of attitude, and when she’s tired she can be very emotional. But she has the most beautiful heart. She is still super affectionate, and loves to have long discussions about life and feelings with me. She does really well at school, I receive high praise from her teachers, she has gorgeous friendships, and she still loves playing with her younger siblings who are 10 and 7. I hope I have done enough to set her up with a great foundation, but I am not naive to think that the teenage years will be easy. In fact I am pretty scared as we enter this new phase. So when a friend mentioned over coffee last week a book titled “being 14” that was about ‘helping fierce teens become awesome women’ I was very interested to find out more!

The next day another friend messaged me that she had the book and offered to lend it to me. I am now half way through and can barely put it down!

“Count to ten
Take it in
This is life before you know who you’re gonna be”

Taylor Swift, lyrics from “Fifteen”.

If you have a child who is fast approaching becoming a teen I highly recommend this book! In fact I would recommend reading it if you have a daughter from age 9 or ten, upward to eighteen. Although the book is based on teen girls I think it would still be great for parents of teen boys to read it too. I always believe the better boys understand girls, the easier life will be for both sexes.

“Madonna King”, writes of the changes in the moods girls experience,

“from a wavering self-esteem to an obsession with the latest fad; from rolling her eyes at her mother’s request for a hug, to wanting an embrace, desperately, but not knowing how to ask.”

I think these words below highlight how in-between a teen can feel,

“I’m not a girl,
Not yet a woman.
All I need is time,
A moment that is mine,
While I’m in between.

I’m not a girl,
There is no need to protect me.
It’s time that I
Learn to face up to this on my own.
I’ve seen so much more than you know now,
So don’t tell me to shut my eyes.

I’m not a girl,
But if you look at me closely,
You will see it in my eyes.
This girl will always find
Her way”.

Brittany Spears,   lyrics from “I’m not  girl, not yet  a woman”.

As much as I worry about being a mum to a teen, I know it will be even harder on my daughter as she tries to figure out her own place in the world she lives in. If this book helps me understand her journey better, then I will happily read it. As parents I think we have to do what we can to see things from their point of view, to practice patience with them, but also to know what boundaries we should be setting. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts, please feel free to leave a comment below, or offer advice.

My girls.

And now time to share with you my favourites from this weeks Instagram Hashtag

LIVING FEARLESSLY AUTHENTIC

Top Left was shared by @mommyandrory 

Top Right was shared by @tarajgreaves

Bottom Left was shared by @messywawa

Bottom Right was shared by @leaning_in 

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting this community and sharing their fantastic images with me. If you would like a chance to be featured just tag your Instagram pics with #livingfearlesslyauthentic! You can follow my insta @macglanville.

And of course it is time for my #mg link up party!

Feel free to join in if you are a blogger, if you are not joining in, you may still really enjoy clicking on the linked up posts and having a read.

Rules for linking up are

  • One post per week per person please.
  • You must display my badge, code below.
  • Please comment on the host post, the one linked prior to your own, and at least one more that takes your fancy.
  • If you link up early I’d love you to pop back and look at some of the posts linked up later if possible.
  • Please follow me on Twitter and Instagram @macglanville, if you have an account.
  • Please Tweet, and share as many of other people’s posts as possible using the #mg hashtag.
  • When you comment on people’s posts I’d love you to let them know you found their post through #mg, thanks.

Have Fun!

This weeks most popular post was from Meme and Harri with “2017 – the year of change“. If you haven’t read this post please pop over and take a read.
My favourite post was from Nana with “Making Less More”. If you haven’t read this post I can not recommend it enough, please take a look.

My own Host Post this week “parenthood, loneliness and finding your tribe” was inspired by Wendy and her #mg linked up post from last week “just another lonely mum”. If you haven’t read her post I highly recommend you do.

Reflectionsfromme

 please make sure you display my badge that is below, thanks xx
Reflectionsfromme
 
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You may also enjoy checking out my favourites Mummy Shot Photos this week #mummyshot HERE.

You may also enjoy reading my post about “parenting and loneliness.

Or my post about “looking on the bright side“.

Thanks for joining me , love Mackenzie xx

Mother of Teenagers