A brief excerpt from “The Letter Your Teenager Can’t Write You” by Gretchen Schmelzer, originally posted on June 23, 2015:
Dear Parent:
This is the letter I wish I could write.
This fight we are in right now. I need it. I need this fight. I can’t tell you this because I don’t have the language for it and it wouldn’t make sense anyway. But I need this fight.
I desperately need you to hold the other end of the rope. To hang on tightly while I thrash on the other end—while I find the handholds and footholds in this new world I feel like I am in.
I used to know who I was, who you were, who we were. But right now I don’t. Right now I am looking for my edges and I can sometimes only find them when I am pulling on you.
This is what we would say to that teen:
Dear Teenager,
I got your letter. Even if you can’t say the words out loud, even if it comes Read more…
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