Mama Bear

My daughter is having a rough day.  Due to being very ill for over two months, then having surgery last month, she's still having some trouble with fatigue.  So, she was tired and running a little late this morning, and got to her first class "not more than 2 minutes" tardy.  Her high school has no lenience for being tardy, so she got her very first detention.  And then it was all downhill from there.  For her sake, I won't go into the details, but she was devastated about pretty much every event, and every minute of that first class, and begged me to come pick her up so she could just come home and cry. 

So, Mama Bear came out.  Of course I couldn't take her out of school for the reasons she was upset...but I really wanted to.  I also wanted to take her teacher to task, whether it's entirely deserved or not, just because I wanted to protect my cub.  Because I don't know the full story yet, I will wait to see if I really do need to talk to the teacher.  I know that being a teenager is not easy, and that emotions can run high, but a mother's nature is to want to protect her child from all the hurts.  Because my child is hurting, I am hurting.

When she was little, my daughter's hurts were so much easier to fix.  Now that she's nearly through her sophomore year of high school, the hurts are more complicated, and not so easy to fix.  Even though she's closer every day to being out on her own, I still want to be able to protect her from everything negative.  I know that's not realistic, that I can't charge in there and fight all of her battles for her, but that doesn't stop that instant instinct to want to do that.

So, I will listen to her after school as she tells me everything that happened and try to help her see that it is not the end of the world.  I'll help her pick herself up, dust herself off, and keep on going.  This has been a very difficult semester for her, and I wish she could have a complete do-over.  Since she can't, I will continue to support her as she struggles to catch up.  She's got to do her part, keep doing her work the best she can, but she also needs to be able to rest and recover.  I think she's very much looking forward summer, regaining her health, then having a fresh start with her junior year of high school.

I think, no matter how old she is, Mama Bear will always be around, wanting to protect her.