Parenting

While my kids are younger I know HOW I want to parent. It's being consistent and following through that is challenging for me. But now that I have a pre-teen I find that I am not sure of what to do in many situations. Things aren't as clear cut. Where do I draw the line and how much freedom do I give?

Example of this weeks dilemmas: Do I let her talk on the phone as long as she wants, as long as no one needs the phone, or do I put a 20 minute limit on it? Do I let her go talk in her room or do I encourage her to talk to her friends downstairs where I can hear her? When her friend comes over to rollerblade how far do I let them go off together? Do I let her get her own FB page?

I feel as if these kinds of questions are really important and they weigh heavily on my mind and heart. But the answers don't come as quickly as they did when my kids were 5 and I had to decide what to allow them to do or not do.

I know I need to start giving her freedom and that it is an important part of this stage of her life. I believe when and how much freedom is crucial to making sure she develops into the YW I know she can be.

I guess the only hope I have is that I have the power of prayer to help me. I need to be watchful and prayerful and make the choices based on the spirit. I need to be proactive as a parent and not make choices out of laziness of not wanting to deal with anything or the opposite of wanting to control everything.

SIGH, I guess no one ever said being a parent was easy!