My daughter is at that non-human age of fifteen years old. I have worked with many teenagers through my career as a social worker so I know that this stage will pass and I will once again have a close relationship with my daughter, but knowing this does not make day to day life with her any easier. The moodiness and attitude issues are quite trying to deal with. She is under pressure to have material things like her friends, yet these things conflicted with the values of our home. She does not have her own cell phone and we will not get her an ipod. We have decided that for Christmas she can have a leather jacket. She has been asking for one for several months. My husband and I both own a leather jacket and they are nice and warm for our cold winter months.

I knew that I would not pick out the leather jacket for my daughter because she would rebel. I wanted her to have something to open on Christmas and I did not want to limit her search for the perfect jacket by giving her a gift certificate. We bought her a leather purse and put a note inside that she could pick out a jacket to match. She was very excited and happy with the gift. Two days after Christmas we faced the crowds and went searching for the perfect leather jacket. I was glad that I had waited until after the holidays to buy it because they were on sale. One store had them discounted by fifty percent. She found a nice black leather jacket that was blazer length and zipped up the front. We also found a scarf and mittens to wear with it. We decided that we would continue to shop for a while since there were so many sales going on. We found another leather jacket that was in red. The leather was very soft and the design was quite unique. It was not as practical as the black one, yet it looked very cute on my daughter. It was sixty percent off so I bought it for her.

After we made the purchases we went out for a late lunch. It seemed like old times having my daughter enjoy my company and to have her talking to me like she had in the past. I told her that I was enjoying the day and her company. She seemed surprised at the compliment. She thanked me again for the two jackets as well as the purse. I know that we will have more down days again, but it was nice to have the special shopping day together.