Attitude Adjustment

I dropped TLH off with her sorry excuse for a dad yesterday for her spring break, but not before she copped an attitude.

Over something as trivial as telling her to bring a jacket.

Her wearing a jacket is a constant fight in this house.

Let's be real.

Her attitude is a constant fight in this house.

I know that she's going through puberty and her hormones are all over the place,

but her bad attitude has been going on even before puberty hit.

She has major mood swings. She back talks. She's irritable.

She's overly sensitive.

Did I mention she has major mood swings?

She's constantly on restriction for her behavior.

Nothing seems to help.

Don't get me wrong.

I love her with all of my heart.

She's my baby girl.

She's not always bad.

She is a smart, independent, caring, funny, lovable girl.

She can be so sweet.

And when her behavior is good, I ease up on her and give in to whatever she might want at the time whether it be to go outside and play or to play a game on the computer.

But as soon as I ease up, she takes full advantage and expects everything again and then it's back to square one.

Mr. A says that I need to follow through on her restrictions.

I agree.

I'm doing better about it.

I talk to her dad about her behavior, but he just tells me that she doesn't behave badly at his house.

Hellooo.

That's because you give her whatever she wants.

TLH definitely knows how to play him.

She used to call him crying when she would be in trouble here and tell him I was being mean, but she would never tell him it was because of her behavior or something she might have done.

And he would never ask.

He would just baby her.

He still refers to himself in third person when talking to her.

"Daddy's going to pick you up this weekend."

"Daddy will buy you a new phone."

"Daddy will see what he can do."

Gag.

Knock. knock.

She's 11.

I understand that you don't see her as often as you'd like and that you miss her and that you want her to know that you love her.

Blah, blah, blah.

She needs guidance. She needs discipline. She needs love.

And not the kind that you buy.

My mom says she's confused about how to behave around the both of us because it's two totally different lifestyles.

She suggested we make an appointment with the Dr. to talk about her behavior and to see how we can learn how to deal with each other and how to handle situations.

We see the Dr. next week.

I hope this will help make a new change in the right direction.

For everyone.