Parenting Tougher These Days

As the New Year approaches, I reflect back on the past year. How fortunate we are to be blessed with all that we have our loving families, friends, homes, health and jobs. So many aren’t as lucky.

When I think back to a couple of potentially tragic events that happened to my two teenage children in November, I thank the good Lord for how it all turned out.

The first incident happened to my 15-year-old daughter. She and her date got in a car accident late one evening. They were basically run off the road by a motorist who zipped through a red light. As her date turned his wheels to avoid the speeding vehicle, he hit black ice and lost control of the car. They found themselves in a shallow ditch and fortunately both were wearing seat belts.

My daughter’s curfew is 12:30 a.m. It was 12:40 when we got the call. It was my daughter saying she had been in an accident. My heart sank, but then I thought: “If she’s able to call us, she’s probably OK.” She was and so was her date.

The next morning, my 17-year-old son, who was visiting the University of Washington campus with four of his friends, called to tell me our family’s van had been stolen. He had locked and parked it where it could be seen from the apartment where they were staying. They were ready to load up and head back to Spokane when they discovered it was gone. It upset us to find out how common thefts like this are in our world.

The police found the van within the week. A young couple was sleeping in it. There was minor damage to the van and most everything of value was gone. I wanted to think that the couple found our van abandoned and it was a roof over their heads for a few days. But sadly enough, they were the thieves.

It was inconvenient to not have the van for two weeks and to lose some material things. But we thank God that our son and his friends were safe.

You never know when experiences like this will come your way. It’s hard enough these days to be parents of adolescents who are trying to be independent and make their own decisions. But add to this a careless and troubled world and some days you feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being a parent.

I’ve learned from these life experiences to take one day at a time and keep saying my prayers along the way.

MEMO: Your Turn is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a Your Turn column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write Your Turn, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.