Seven-ness

Maybe it's me working with teenagers that wrestle with issues like this...

Or maybe it's now being a dad of two kids that seem to be growing way too fast...

...but this post from Sarah Markley (a "friend of a friend) really struck me as something all parents could relate to and should be aware of and reminded of:

She writes in a diary, but she has little to say beyond what she had for lunch and dessert. She giggles at her father and still needs tickle-time, but the other half of the time she wants him to treat her like a grown-up. My seven-year-old isn't too old to crawl in between us in bed some Saturday mornings, but needs her own alone time in her room more often these days.

Each year she gets older brings a different spin on girlhood to our lives. And if I battle just to understand her seven-ness from the outside, I'm sure she battles to understand it from the inside.

Thoughtfully well written and such a great reminder of the role adults fill as guides helping to figure out their seven-ness or even their seventeen-ness...

Now if somebody could help me figure out my twenty-nine-ness...

Technorati tags: adolescent, sarah markley, growing up