Dear Maia,
You are two years old and, yet, I spend entirely too much time panicking about your "upcoming" teenage years. I am not worried because of your early signs of rebellion (you just won't sleep when I want you to) but because of what I always see around me and the way it is portrayed in the American media. Terrible images and stories of teenage girls hating or disrespecting their mothers. [Book I shouldn't have read: "Queen Bees and Wannabes". Movie I shouldn't have watched (based on true story, I think): "Thirteen".]
I hope I'll manage to drown out the peer choir and teach you how unacceptable such words are for a child to say to their parent. I never even thought that way about my parents, let alone say stuff like that, and I hope you won’t either.
It won’t be hard to keep loving your dad, since he is a sweetheart (and push-over;) with you most of the time. I always have to play the tough cop to make sure all goes well. That kinda sucks, actually (and excuse my language). I wish I could take you into bed at night, cuddle with you, let you stay up late, give you ice-cream every day, and buy you every toy under the sky to never make you cry …. but, of course, I can’t do that, for I would like you to become a well-balanced and normal adult one day.
Anyway, I would like to note for posterity that I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH WITH ALL MY HEART AND THAT WILL NEVER EVER CHANGE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS or what attitudes we might develop in your teenage years. Hopefully I will do a good job in raising you and we won’t have such a phase. Oh God, please. Anyway, I love you, baby.
