While we were cleaning the basement a couple of weekends ago (and filling a dumpster)... I came across a journal my daughter had written from a class project when she was 14 (she is now almost 27, married with 2 kids). I took a picture of one of the entries and texted it to her, along with the 'rolling with laughter' emoji. It said:

"Day 8: If I could go back & change one thing about my childhood it would be to listen to my mom more because my life might have been better."

Oh my goodness... now she wasn't an awful kid, just the normal teenage frustrations. But, my oh my, did I chuckle at that... and wish I had known that at the time because there were days I felt it was going in one ear and out the other!

!!!

you should take that to Shutterfly or another online printer and make a 3 foot x 5 foot poster, frame it, and give to her for Christmas...

That's funny!! It's not usually until we get older that we can admit that we should've listened to our parents more often I like Happy's idea! Perhaps she can display it so her own two kiddos can heed her own advice!

So true. I remember telling my Dad once (I was in my late 20's): "You know all those times I told you that you were wrong, when I was a teenager? Well you were right." Glad I got to tell him before he passed.

My dad thinks it's funny when my kids do some of the same things that I used to give him grief about. He and I have had more than a few laughs about it. Our most recent one was about a week and a half ago....so my two daughters are not my biological children (they're my husband's girls). Well I was having a conversation with the oldest one (14) and she was telling me that she has a new boyfriend. I asked her if her mom knows about him yet. She said, "Well, not really. I mean, she knows we like each other but mom hasn't specifically asked if he's my boyfriend so I haven't told her yet." The reason this makes me and my dad laugh is because I was the master of not answering questions as a teenager unless my dad specifically worded the question to make sure he got the answer he was looking for. It drove him nuts!! So my response to my daughter went something like this, "Let me tell you this. If you're mom is asking the question, she most likely already knows the answer so it would be wise to answer the question you know she's asking. You're a smart girl, so don't try to tell me you don't know what information she's looking for. She shouldn't have to word her questions a certain way in order for you to answer them correctly." She said, "HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" I smiled and responded with, "Ask Grandpa about this subject. I dodged answering questions all the time by trying this. You won't get far in our house by playing this game."

When I told my dad about this conversation, he belly laughed

That is a fantastic story BB!

I have my 14 yrs. old diary. I don't imagine my mother would have been nearly as amused if she had read it. She may have.....I am pretty sure my father did. It didn't come back into my hands until I was in my 40s. A few years ago I met up with my two best friends from that time and we read some of it together. Now we can't even remember some of the angst I was writing about, but it sure was a big deal to me at the time.