One of my closest mommy friends has been having problems dealing with her emotions for the past year. Her problems lie with the fact that she takes in her daughter's problems too much. And so when we talk with each other, she shares her frustrations about her daughter's friends with me, and I listen to her. I give my opinion when she asks for it. But deep inside me, I'm thankful that I don't have to go though what she's going through... I don't think I can handle it.
Just recently a New York Times article showed up on my FB newsfeed. It was such an apt explanation of what my friend was feeling. The author explains this common dynamic of parent-teen relationships. Essentially, teens emotionally dump a problem on a parent. The parent will then react to the drama even after the teen has recovered from it.
For the most part I am a newbie as far a teen dramas are concerned because my oldest daughter hardly ever has one. J's personality is one that is almost always predictably happy. She hardly has enemies, and seldom hates on people. She is not one to hold a grudge and she is capable of easily moving on to other things, she gets over everything after a day or two... like nothing even happened in the first place. I think her tolerance + soft-heartedness make her well-loved by her friends.