Hi there, Thanks for the welcome! I logged in to RO parents because I've been having a bit of a rough time trying to be the best parent I can for my 16 year old daughter. I feel like we are riding an emotional roller coaster with her moods constantly changing within a moments notice. And I guess I'm just looking for hints, tips and reassurance that I really am doing all I can to maintain a good relationship with my daughter while trying to bring her up to be the awesome person I know that she is and will be. About a week ago, I was having a bad day and so she decided to try to tickle me to cheer me up before she remembered that I am not ticklish. In doing so she made me laugh as she continued to try despite the fact she knew she wouldn't get far. To keep my stress levels down and my daughters, we schedule regular binge nights of our favourite to show. Otherwise when she is at her dads, I schedule in some time with my boyfriend and we will go away together or stay home. I guess I already covered the third question, so my top tip for other parents is? Well, I guess it would be to enjoy the good moments and hold onto them. Enjoy when they are being helpful, when telling you they love you and when they give you hugs, because it doesn't come around very often but when it does happen, it's pretty special and remembering those moments will get you through the tough ones. The best thing about weekends? We don't really get weekends together as I'm a shift worker. But I try to make my time off as valuable as possible. I spend as much time as I can with my daughter between shifts and on my days off. Well I guess that's us in a nutshell!
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