Teen angels help carry the load for weary moms
Published: 11/29/2012 10:33 AM
Last Modified: 11/29/2012 10:33 AM
This is a tribute to what I call teen angels, young girls who become attached to families with small kids, and form a symbiotic relationship that enriches everyone involved.
Our teen angel was Joanne. She was in grade school when we became friends with her mother shortly after moving into a small town in Wisconsin. She loved to come over to the house to decorate Christmas cookies or play games with the kids, a welcome relief to my wife who was knee-deep in jelly-faced toddlers.
As Joanne reached her teen years, she became our babysitter, and then a trusted friend of the family.
What she added to our lives cannot be measured. She was a huge help around the house, and with the kids, who loved her and benefited from her enthusiastic love for them. She was there for us for years, through crises and trials and through fun times. She sometimes went with us on family vacations, changing diapers and feeding babies right along with camping and swimming and hiking.
And I like to think that Joanne benefited from her time with us, learning to care for babies and children, learning responsibility, seeing the example of a loving family that works and plays and prays and grows together, finding a place beyond her immediate family where she was loved and honored and respected.
I recently ran into Joanne on a trip to Wisconsin. A grandmother herself now, she still was eager to hear all about our kids, and their kids.
Raising kids, especially in their early years, can be a relentless, tiring, emotionally challenging (and also rewarding) task. Here’s to those teen angels who come alongside weary mothers and help carry some of the load.
Written by
Bill Sherman
Staff Writer
