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This post marks the last in a series of six posts that I have written as an Ambassador Mom for Kotex. It’s been a really good experience for me, and not just because we received free product (although that was a very nice thing!). It’s also been a good thing for me, personally. I feel like I’ve benefitted the experience, because writing these posts has caused me to think more carefully about the unique privilege and responsibility that I’ve been given, by getting to be the mother of a teen daughter.
In June, I wrote about “The Talk” that my mother never had with me, and about how I purposed in my heart to do things differently with my daughter.
In July, after listening to some friends discuss how they were dreading having “the talk” with their daughters, I encouraged my readers to re-frame that discussion: to see it as a golden opportunity to build their relationship with their daughters.
In August, I encouraged moms to think about their daughter’s “love language”, as they looked for opportunities to find the “talkable moments”.
In September, I told a whopper of an embarrassing story on myself, and encouraged moms to find ways to help their daughter to be prepared for the coming school year.
And in October, I gave some practical tips for helping your daughter learn to keep track of her own monthly cycles.
When I first started this assignment, I thought of my daughter as barely out of her tweens. It’s amazing how much she’s grown in six months. Here she is, with her feet squarely planted in the teen years, getting to ready to study for her learner’s permit for a driving license.
My BABY!!!!
How did THAT happen???
I took my little girl teenaged daughter out to lunch, just to put a final bow on this project, to see if she had any final thoughts she wanted to share.
She didn’t.
But we really enjoyed sharing a basket of fish tacos, because we both adore fish tacos from Blue Coast Burrito.
Remembering my own words from the August post that I did for Kotex, on learning to speak your daughter’s love language, to find those talkable moments, and realizing that one of the things my daughter loves more than anything is shopping for clothes, especially vintage clothing, we planned an afternoon of Goodwill Hunting, if you know what I mean. And lo, and behold, she found the very thing she was looking for: combat boots.
Yes, I know the old joke regarding “yo’ mama” and her taste in footwear. Well, this time, if they flipped it around to “yo’ daughter”, it wouldn’t be an insult. Just a simple statement of fact.
Times change, and fashion changes, and, within reason, I’m willing to roll with my daughter’s fashion sense. Because I kind of love the things she comes up with. She found this sweatshirt, the purse, and boots that morning.
And then, on a whim, we drove by the area of Nashville that has antique stores, and stumbled upon the most awesome vintage store, called Pre to Post Modern, featuring Antiques of the Future. Filled with fashion and furniture relics from the 70’s, we happily waded through more kitsch than the law allows, and I discovered my daughter loved the same stuff I loved when I was in high school, including platform shoes, and wrap around palazzo pants. Oh, my!
So even if I don’t have a profound word of wisdom from her in regard to this series of posts, we both have a shared memory of a wonderful day spent together, where I purposefully set out to keep those lines of communication between us wide open.
Mission accomplished!
So, thanks, Kotex, for having me be an Ambassador Mom for you. If me writing these pieces hasn’t helped one other soul, at least it’s been a blessing to my relationship with my own daughter, because I heeded my own advice.
And it’s my hope that perhaps it has encouraged some other mom to take a step that she should take to reach out to her own daughter. Because, that would be worth it.
For more information for you as a mom, the Kotex site on “My Daughter’s Period” is a gold mine of helpful information and tools. If your daughter has questions she’d like to research on her own, this site, the U by Kotex website, specifically designed with Tweens and Teens in mind, will help her get the answers she needs.
I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.