Trifecta Mom

Years ago I was called the Trifecta mom at our school (which went all the way from 4 to 18) - I had one child in the Lower School, one in Middle School and one in High School. Most people don't have the spread that I do so it was a pretty elite circle, let me tell you.

It occurred to me yesterday that, once again, I'm Trifecta Mom. This time it's because I have a child in her 20's, a teen and a pre-teen. And boy there's never a dull moment. This morning for example, the 21 year old was worrying about what to wear for her internship, I was worried about the shoes she  said were suitable for the trek at each end of the train journey (we'll see) and we were both worried about her being late.

The teen was still in bed, having woken me up at 2.30am when he decided to be a responsible family member and switch the alarm on - which beeped loudly outside my bedroom door. Sigh.

The pre-teen was squeezing as much time as he could on the computer before we had to leave for his daily cooking camp. We've been doing the same drill for  years now - get up, have breakfast, shower, dress, brush teeth, put shoes and socks on. How come I am still having to prompt him every on every single step? Next year he goes into middle school and wants to walk himself to school; in return for that I will be insisting that he is responsible for getting himself out the door with no instruction from me.  Again, we'll see.

Each decade requires a different style of parenting - knowing when to step in, when to stand back and when not to say "I told you so".

People say it will keep me young. So why do I feel about 110?