We thought our son would attend a four-year college. Now it’s our turn to learn. – The Washington Post
There are times in your parenting journey when confidence sets in and things hum along smoothly for a while. Then there are days when you lock yourself in your bathroom with a bag of Milano cookies questioning every interaction you’ve ever had with your kids.
I spend most of the time somewhere in between, but keep my Milanos close at hand, just in case.
These days, I feel like those confident parenting moments are less frequent. Perhaps because my role is shifting as my 17-year-old twin sons are figuring out their next steps.
Our sons, who just began their senior year of high school, are two very different young men.
One has multiple disability and medical issues and is the one I’ve lost sleep over with “what ifs” swirling through my head, including whether he will be employable. Turns out he’s found a passion for TV production, film, and editing. He films shows at our local cable-access TV station, and he’s starting to look at colleges.
The other twin, whom I assumed I had figured out, caught my husband and me off-guard, reminding us how little we know as parents.
Our son is levelheaded, responsible, gets up at 5 a.m. to study or go to the gym, gets good grades, is on his school robotics team, holds a job at Trader Joe’s, and recently took a free dual enrollment college-level management course offered between our public high school and local community college. He also loves cars. He spends the little free time he has immersed in car culture.