Right time for Independence

[Fkie772]

My daughter is newly 17 and she’s always been independent but recently she’s been able to hangout with friends more and make plans on her own after asking of course. She also has a job and is an athlete that already takes up lots of time, she wants to plan things on top of each other to fill her day. Ex. She’ll hangout with her boyfriend until she has to go to work and she’s gone all day which means I never see her and the more important things get miss like scheduling a physical and such. How do I help my teen prioritize the right things but also help her feel confident in having a social life and transition into adulthood.
Right at this moment I’m freaking out and think that I didn’t do a good enough job raising her to be confident In her decisions and teach her how to function in the real world while using her real world skills.

[Courtney-RO]

Hi @Fkie772 and welcome to our online community!

Thank you for reaching out and sharing with us today. We can hear just how much you care about your daughter and how worried you are about whether or not you have prepared her for the future enough. It sounds like such a tough situation to be in, I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now. I am just wondering if you have spoken to your daughter about these concerns and shared how you are feeling?

It sounds like you have worked so hard to instill these qualities in your daughter and from what you have shared, she seems like a very independent person. Has she ever done anything to lead you to believe that she's not confident or ready to function in the real world?

I found an article recently and wonder if maybe it might help you at all. While it is an Australian website, there are some really helpful tips and information that might give you a bit more of an idea of things that you could do to support your daughter and where to go from here.

As this is such a hard situation to go through on your own, I am wondering if there is anyone that you might feel comfortable talking to about this? Whether it be a friend, family member or even a health professional. What kind of things do you do to help you relax after a long and stressful week?

I just want to remind you that you're not alone and we're all here for you.