05/19/2026
Thoughts on adolescence.
When our children enter puberty and adolescence…
mothers go through a transformation too.
As children begin separating, individuating, questioning, needing us differently, and becoming more independent, as mothers, we quietly experience grief, confusion, emotional sensitivity, exhaustion, or even an identity shift they cannot fully explain.
And biologically, this makes sense.
A mother’s nervous system has spent years attuning to her child’s needs, safety, emotions, and rhythms.
ADOLESCENCE— the second 7 year cycle. Trying on identity, reaching for adulthood with a lack of experience and still-developing brain and nervous system while unconsciously shaped by the influences, ideals, and expectations absorbed along the way.
When the relationship changes during adolescence, our mom brain and body must recalibrate too.
Many moms also find themselves revisiting parts of their own adolescence:
old wounds,
insecurities,
identity struggles,
or unmet emotional needs.
At the same time, we are being invited into a new version of motherhood…
one built less on caretaking,
and more on trust, guidance, boundaries, and connection.
Matrescence does not end after the baby years.
Motherhood continues evolving as our children evolve.
And perhaps one of the greatest invitations of parenting teenagers is this:
to grow alongside them.
