A Unique Rite of Passage

Our daughter turned 13 in August. In addition to feeling old and part of the cliche, "they grow up in a blink of an eye," I was very stirred by this birthday. As I watched her with her friends at her birthday party I didn't choke back the tears - I let them stream down my face. I felt a combination of sadness at how fleeting and precious the time I have with her is, joy at what a lovely young woman she is, and fear at what lies ahead as she fully enters adolescence. I know that the groundwork has been laid as to how she will manage the tumult of this stage of life and my husband and I have worked hard and conscientiously to be decent role models for her. But I also know it is time for us to let go at another level and for her to take more responsibility for her choices.

So, we invited her to join us at a training my husband and I have done for years called the Soft Addictions Training led by Judith Wright. She had only done parent/child trainings at the Wright Leadership Institute so this would be her first "adult" training. I wanted her to gain insights into why we create bad habits and more importantly have tools and strategies on how to deal with them. I was really proud of her as it is challenging material besides the fact you are sitting still most of the day for 2.5 days! Even better, she was proud of herself and said at the end it was a really big deal to do this.