Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Skooled by a 15 Year Old?

There is nothing like coming home from a long day at work and getting a lecture from my 15 year old.  But not only that, she has this thing about calling me every 15 minutes, while I am driving to see where I am.  That helps her gage how much time she has before I am home and her chores had better be done.  But I've got smart.  I don't call her when I leave work, I wait for about 15 minutes, then call her.  When she calls I say I am somewhere else than where I really am.  I like the surprise attacks myself.

But today was different.  I didn't get the calls every 15 minutes, actually just one call. The one call was when I was just around the corner and she knew she was caught. She confessed she still had to put the dishes away and bring in the big trash barrel from the street.  But the thing that started the ball rolling was her wearing make-up.  We have a rule that she does not wear the heavy eye make-up, you know the big black eye liner.  I asked her about it and she said she got it from a friend at school.  I then asked her where her phone was and she started screaming "NO!".  I gently reminded her of the rule and consequence...then I get lectured on how unreasonable I am, how I don't ever listen, how I always interrupt her, and the tirade goes on and on.  While she is doing that I am still walking around the house, picking up stuff, starting the laundry.  I have to show that I am not emotionally involved because then my blood pressure starts to rise.  Well, I calmly found her phone, put it in my bedroom and locked the door.  She said some more things and then walked out the door.  I am sorry to say, I actually felt some relief when she walked out.  How sad and pathetic is that?  I ask myself every single day, how much longer can I do this?  I don't know!

About 15 minutes later she comes back in while I am typing this blog post and sits down on the couch, with a grumpy face and all and asks me "did you stop and get some bread?"  I said "No...I came home to find some money (tomorrow is payday) and was deciding which was more important, bread or cough syrup because her coughing at night is keeping me up".  I told her definately the bread is not on the list because of how she just treated me.  So now she is in tears, saying she is sorry and tries to say "sometimes I just wish...never mind".  She says I talk and talk and never let her talk, she never gets a word in when it's her that keeps it going.  I stop because I refuse to get into a battle of wills.

Well, now as I am still typing she is still going on and on and on, repeating the same things.  Is this normal?  Do I stop her or do I just keep letting her ramble? Is there a right way to parent?

2 comments:

GB's Mom said...

LOL- Of course it's not normal. But with the assortment of diagnosis our kids have, why would you expect normal?

Anonymous said...

Hang in there.