Amanda Lamb: Invisible no more ...

If you are the parent of teenagers or adolescent children, there’s a good chance that at times you feel invisible.

My now high schooler never needed my help with homework in middle school.

“Need any help?” I would duck my head in her bedroom on occasion and ask even though I already knew the answer.

“Nope. I’m good. Thanks,” she replied without even looking up from her computer.

A fiercely independent child, I didn’t expect her to really need me. Her younger sister had asked for help with homework here and there, but that too waned as middle school approached for her.

Frankly, I hardly recalled a time when I was growing up that I asked my parents for help as they always seemed too busy, too tired or too pre-occupied with the business of running a family to worry about complicated algebra equations or quizzing me on my French words.

“Why don’t you try wording it like this?” I said to my daughter after reading over a paragraph she had written. “I like what you’re trying to say, but I think if you switched the order of those two ideas it would make more sense.”

She took to the keyboard and re-worked the sentence and then turned the computer screen back in my direction for me to review her work.

“Yes, exactly. That’s a lot better,” I smiled. “Now let me quiz you for that test,” I said picking up a stack of index cards with phrases and definitions she had carefully crafted.

The other day, my older daughter actually gave me a rare compliment after I assisted her with a project.

“Mom, you’re actually a pretty good writer,” she said oblivious to the irony of her remark.