parenting.
Parenting is hard...
why doesn't anyone ever tell you that BEFORE you have children!??!
Since I was a perfect child and NEVER gave my parents a worry, I did not realize the mental strain being 'Mommy' puts on a person.
ahem, okay back to reality!!
Consistency is exhausting.
Discipline is depressing.
No wonder we go grey and looney!!
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a parent...
most days!
Other days... I would rather be in a padded room eating jello.
Today would be one of the padded room/jello kind of days.
The morning was good.
Had the normal 5 year old not wanting to get up for school..
and the moaning, groaning and drama that can only be "Emma" getting dressed, her teeth brushed, and her hair fixed.
and then the drama over having to take popcorn for snack (because all of the fruit and veggies were gone) .
and then there was peace and tranquility for hours.
And then at 3:00, preteen, on the brink of sending her mother over the edge of a cliff with the eye rolling, arguing, nasty tone daughter arrived home from school.
Within 30 minutes of being at home, Miss Attitude had lost going to her dance class because she thought "Get ready for dance class." meant go and lay down on the bed.
my words have become optional of late.
Within an hour she had lost the privilege of the FC lock~in that is next week because she had found my diary from high school in a box downstairs and instead of asking if she could read it, she snuck it into her room~~and had been skimming through it.
taking liberties NOT hers to take has become the norm of late.
{Um, I just skimmed through it and there are definitely things in there I would NOT want her to have read! I think it is going to be burned.}
Spanking was so much easier. You spank, they cry, they pout (one much longer than the other!) and then it is over.
Taking privileges away~~especially good wholesome young Christian get togethers~~is excruciating, they mope for days and then the day of the event they are miserable~~and try to make everyone else miserable.
So Michaela hid in her room for a few hours doing homework...
realizing she was probably less likely to lose any more privileges if I could not see her.
Well, Emma must have seen me hanging right on the edge of complete frustration...
and she decided she needed to push me completely over!
She went outside to play with the neighbors.
I went out to mow the weeds that have grown since Saturday.
Out of the blue ~~and over the sound of the mower~~ I hear her crying.
I turn the mower off, ask her what is wrong, and want to scream when I hear...
"I (sob)miss(sob)my friends(sob). I want (sob) to go back(sob) to England (sob sob sniffle)."
Mission accomplished...
complete frustration obtained!!
I think I will reserve my padded room now!!!
and strawberry is my favorite flavor!!!!
