Amy Mac

My best friend is having her first baby in the same year my baby turns 10 years old. It reminds me how all the baby books in the world cannot prepare you for when the baby grows older – and a different kind of parenting begins.  They give sound advice on swaddling a newborn (which also comes in handy when making burritos), how to accurately take temperatures (no matter how disturbing the method), and surviving a toddler meltdown with your composure intact (which only works if you pretend the screaming child isn’t yours.)

Our new neighbors from out West are settling in nicely: they’ve enrolled their children in school, made new friends and taken up tennis. Being the intelligent sort, they’ve noticed Southerners approach college football with religious fervor, and are planning to complete their transition from “you guys” to “y’all” by attending an SEC football game.

I’m here to help.

I’ve always been the type of person to move along at a fast clip. I can shop for a week’s worth of groceries in 45 minutes, be ready for church in 20, and cut a 5-hour car trip down to 4 by driving in the fast lane.

But in a few weeks, my oldest baby is graduating from elementary school. And she’s craving independence. She wants a timetable for when she can wear makeup, walk alone to a friend’s house, and a dollar amount her dad and I will commit toward buying a car when she turns 16.

By the time you read this article, I will have celebrated yet another birthday. They seem to come more quickly than when I was younger. Which got me thinking - if I could go back and give my 20-something self some advice, what would I say?