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Love the laundry: embracing the daily dilemmas of raising a teen

For parents of teenagers, the idea that you'd ever love the laundry piles your offspring create can seem crazy. But embrace the moments when you can – some day soon you just may miss those daily dilemmas of raising a teen.

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Ric Dugan/The Herald-Mail/AP
Loretta Toms takes advantage of the warm weather to hang laundry out to dry at her home in Hagerstown, Md., on Feb. 27, 2012. Hanging laundry to dry is one method of making your clothes last longer.

“Clean your room; do your homework; take out the garbage; feed the dog; who left the empty milk carton in the fridge; turn down the music; go to bed!”

These are the daily dilemmas you manage as the parent of a teen. Endless piles of laundry, constant texting and social networking. Some days you long for the time when you made all the play dates. In what feels like a second, those days are long gone.

Some days you feel like you are a nag. Long ago you made a promise to yourself, that it would never happen, but then again, back then you did not know about the daily dilemmas that constantly arise when you are raising a teen.

You tell yourself not to sweat the small stuff, but sometimes in the rhythm of daily living you forget. The small stuff so quickly piles up and once in a while it feels as if you will never get out from under the weight.  

It is at these very moments you must remind yourself to be mindful and savor the seconds you have to spend with your teen, in a flash it will pass.

So how can you better manage daily dilemmas related to raising your teen? Keep it calm, keep it cool, and most of all, keep it in perspective. Before you can blink, your teen will be all grown up. It is hard to believe one day you will miss his messy room and loud music!

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. Jennifer Powell-Lunder and Barbara Greenberg blogs at Talking Teenage.

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