The Middle Years With Crystal Shank Arzu
I am honored to introduce Crystal Shank Arzu and her upcoming feature in the soon to be released Amazing Moms book.
I am a mom of a 17-year-old daughter and a Payment Variance Analyst Supervisor for a large Healthcare Management Company. I’m also a blogger at The Middle Years Journey. One day, after watching old episodes of Roseanne, my daughter turned to me and said: “She reminds me of you and the things you say!”
As my daughter is embarking on her own journey, I felt it was time for me to begin mine.
[ctt template=”8″ link=”HI385″ via=”no” nofollow=”yes”]Sometimes as Women, we tend to allow our families to take priority over our own needs and desires.[/ctt]
I am excited to embark on the journey of rediscovering myself, and learning more about who I am.
I’m an avid reader. I also love karaoke and attending paint night parties with friends. Love and Laughter are my mottos, and I have an uncanny ability to make people laugh.
What I do well as a mom.
I’m good at being a cheerleader for my daughter. I also allow her the freedom to make choices and support her personal decisions. I am also very honest. As my daughter gets older, I want her to know exactly what I think and feel. I do not sugar coat situations. I feel doing so, is a disservice to both of us.
What I learned from another mom.
Be your child’s parent and not a best friend.
Lesson learned from my child.
Never give up. No matter what adversity my daughter has experienced, she uses these as life lessons, picks herself up, with even more determination. My Daughter has achieved more in 17 years than I have in 43. In fact, she was instrumental in my plans to create my blog.
She told me “Mom, you can do this, if this is your dream, do it! I’m proud of you.”
That was the extra motivation I needed.
Successful motherhood moment.
My Daughter and I had a heart to heart talk one day about life and things that I went through growing up. There were tears, and I shared things that she never knew. Later on that day, unbeknownst to me, she posted on her Twitter page
My Mother is a strong woman and I love her for that.
Mom I admire.
My Mother. I was adopted at 3 months old. She has always loved me as if I came from her. To this day, we have a bond that is unexplainable. My Mother is the most giving, caring, and selfless person that I know. I tell her, I can only hope to be the same type of Mother that she was, but most importantly I strive to be the same type of person she is. She provided me with a great example of how to be an Amazing Mom.
It has been a pleasure to get to know the moms and dads in our upcoming book series about the lessons that we can learn from other parents.
What is your best parenting lesson or a success you have had as a parent?
Please let me know in the comments below.
To learn more about Crystal visit her on her blog at The Middle Years Journey.
Click HERE to check out all of the places where I link up.
15 thoughts on “The Middle Years With Crystal Shank Arzu”
Awww it’s nice to meet an amazing mom. I can’t agree more with the statement we need to be a parent and not a friend.
Thanks for stopping by.
i’m not a mother yet, but excited to experience it in the future. i’m sure there is no better experience then to see your child grow and learn
I think it is great that you read these types of things before becoming a parent. It can help to shape your parenthood into exactly what is right for you.
Wishing that one day I could hear this from my kid/s. Hoping to be a real mom one day.
I wish you luck to get what you want out of life.
The Amazing Moms book sounds like it will be a really inspirational read!
It has come out so nicely. I am anxious to debut.
I really admire my friends who have children and manage to keep their house in one piece and their career going at the same time …. Doing that as a single parent is almost unimaginable!
It is very impressive.
I struggle with finding a balance between taking care of family and taking care of myself. I have been trying to even it up more, and Crystal’s story is very inspiring. She is an amazing lady and a great mom – and it sounds like her daughter is following in her footsteps. Congrats on your blogging journey!
That struggle is very real. Bringing awareness will help you to carve out that time.
I don’t know this from experience, but raising a teen as a single parent is hard. Kudos to you, Crystal, for forging your path, helping your daughter and embarking on your journey.
I am not a parent however, I do lose myself in others, I am recovering from this. One thing I can say is, there is no perfect handbook for raising kids, what I feel as a woman we need to learn how to place ourselves first and not feel like we are being selfish. The old saying-airplane, oxygen mask, place on one’s self FIRST!
There is a reason that advice will save many lives.