“Can we get lunch on the way home?” my teenage daughter texts me on an early release day.
“Yes, that’s fine,” I reply, excited she’s actually using her phone to communicate with her mother.
We spend lunch watching stupid dance videos on Instagram and laughing together.
“Do you want to watch Gilmore Girls?” she asks another night after I get home from a work event at 9:45. No, I’m tired and peopled-out and ready for a shower and bed. But I do. And we scream at the TV together when Rory kisses Dean.
The best advice for the teenage years I’ve gotten so far is this: When your teen asks, say yes!
Not YES to a new car or parties with underage drinking or creepy social media apps or the prom dress that looks like a bikini. But YES to anything where you can be in the same space as them at the same time and have a conversation without a screen or door between your faces.
Yes to breakfast. Yes to “Can I practice driving?” Yes to “Want to watch the Barbie movie?” Even yes to “Will you drive me to so-and-so’s house,” because it’s at least time in the car together.
Say YES. Even when you don’t want to, or you’re tired, or not hungry, or don’t have time.
Soon enough there won’t be time left to do any of these things; with only three years of high school left, I don’t want to regret saying “no” at all over the next few years if I can help it.
After the next few years, who knows when she’ll ask me again? Right now I am in my season of YES. And I intend to make the most of it!
