My daughter (16 NVLD) has her moments, as do all teenagers. But for the most part she's a great kid and she's really mature about solving her own problems. She's always been an independent sort, but this year she's come into her own in a great way, and it's delightful to see.
The day after she turned 16 she got a job at our local Panera, where she works behind the counter serving a lot of rather unpleasant and demanding customers. She does so with a good attitude and a work ethic I never thought I'd see from her. The same child that can't wash a dish at home cleans up an entire restaurant before closing. Who would of thunk it? She works at Panera after school several days a week, and she does it pleasantly, even when she really doesn't want to go in.
This week, when she looked up her schedule, she noted that she was working until closing Friday night. Halloween. I told her immediately to see if she could trade shifts with someone, but she didn't get on it fast enough and by the time she started searching for someone to take her shift, everyone had already bowed out. She was stuck working and she was NOT happy about it. In fact, she grumbled for a full 24 hours, even threatening to quit over it, but the fact is, she knew that she would go in and work.
When I drove her to work, she started out the ride all grumpy but we talked about it and by the time we arrived a full 5 minutes later, she was feeling better. Around 8:45 I got a call that she was let off early, had a friend pick her up, and now she was trick or treating with her boyfriend in his neighborhood. So it all worked out OK and she was so much happier.
She came home about 10:30 laden down with candy and a big orange pumpkin plastic tote. The thing was overflowing, and she said that she had a pillowcase more at her boyfriend's house. What was so amazing, she told me, was that because they were out so much later, all the people dumped their leftover candy into their bags and buckets, and she ended up with way more candy than she expected. She was so psyched, because she discovered a way to get her work done and to trick or treat. Both of her needs were met, with no adult intervention at all.
I was really proud of her for solving her problem in the best way possible, and for bringing home an amazing amount of double bubble, which I dearly love. She's a great kid!
I hope your Halloween was as successful as ours. Although we did not get one trick or treater for the 3rd year in a row. I think they're scared of me.
It's great that she bit the bullet and went to work, even though she grumbled for days beforehand. she's developing a great work ethic!
Posted by: Daisy | November 01, 2008 at 09:24 PM
She is 16 and still goes out trick or treating. Did she even bother to dress up for it since she didn't come home from work first, or did she go as a Panera counter worker? A plastic pumpkin and a pillowcase full of candy is a bit on the oink-oink side in my opinion.
I always thought of this day for younger children who still get excited by the magic of it all and are happy with a few pieces of candy. "I can play dress up and knock on peoples door and they will give me candy...life can't get much better than this". Just saying.
Posted by: hollie | May 11, 2009 at 07:02 PM