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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Parenting 101

Pin It Alternate title: One down, four to go

Ten year olds and disrespect. What a lovely combination for a mom.

Friday night G had her twice postponed birthday sleepover. Somehow this small party ended up to be a much bigger deal than we had anticipated. More people ended up invited, more money was spent - just all around a bigger deal than we had originally planned. That's fine; you only turn 10 once, and in my house, you only get a sleepover party once, so I wanted it to be a blessing to her. And it was. Everyone had a good time, even with my declaration that I am NOT the cool mom, and when the movie ended, lights were out and it was time to go to sleep. This was between 1:30 and 2:00 am, so maybe I am a little bit cool. LOL

Okay, so she has a great party, has a fabulous time with her friends. Saturday rolls around, and we had attitude. I excused it thinking that she was tired and could use some grace.

Sunday rolls around and we have attitude. Not only attitude -- we have EYEROLLING. Oh no. My 10 year old will NOT be rolling her eyes at me.

I've been trying to figure out what motivates each of my children, to learn effective deterrents for bad behavior. This one is actually the easiest of the three. She is very social, loves to have a friend over or be at a friend's house.

So ... the deterrent ... FIVE DAYS in a row with NO disrespect. None. No eyerolling, no muttering under her breath, no nuthin'. If during one of those five days, there IS disrespect, we start over. During those five days, there will be no friends invited over, and she will not be going to any friends' house. None of that until five days in a row have passed.

Oh, and this goes for dad too, although she's typically not disrespectful to him. (warning - mommy giving guilt trip ahead) Why is it that she's disrespectful to ME? I carried her for nine months, I had my body cut in two to deliver her, I nursed her until I bled, I got up every night with her (seriously - the one night I pumped, told Jim to take care of her, I was sleeping, was the first night she slept through the night. I, of course, had to get up because I was overfull ... LOL ... that should have been a sign that this girl has a bit of obstinance in her!) ... oh well ... girls and moms ... I guess she comes by it honestly. I remember being so mad at my mom when I was about her age that I wouldn't wear a stitch of clothes she had given me. My dad DID buy me clothes every now and then, but it was usually of the outerwear variety. Um yeah ... let's just say I wasn't dressed appropriately that day.

So back to G. We made it thorough yesterday without any disrespect from her. Let's see how today goes, shall we?

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