My most stressed out time as a parent is ahead of me

There are things that as a parent you can't prepare for. I like lists, so here is just a few of them:

• The amount of time you will spend talking about your child's bowel movements
• The way you will react the first time your child has a public meltdown 
• The random things your child learns at school from their friends and then parrots back to you at home

(It's that last one that makes me realize why I have friends who homeschool their children. Listening to the nonsense he gets from other children drives me insane, and I completely understand wanting to control what goes into his beautiful sponge-like brain for as long as possible. But homeschooling is stressful, and I really like my job, so that is not going to work out for us. Sorry, I digress.)

The point is that you can't prepare for most of your life as a parent, especially when it comes to what's going to stress you out. I have this long-held belief that my son will turn into a complete stranger in his high school years, become a goth and hate me before finally coming around to appreciate me right before he leaves for college.

Now I've learned that this will probably happen in middle school instead. Blame the facts that children are dealing with more peer pressure or entering puberty earlier, but most mothers are reporting that their most stressed out time of life has become the middle school years.

Great.

How do parents survive the onslaught of moodiness, independence and pressure? They say that the common sense rules still apply: Communication, listening to your children and knowing when to let them do things on their own.

Do you have any advice for handling a middle schooler? Share your wisdom in the comments.