Pre-teen parenting
17 March 2009
Somebody pass me the Excedrin. I’m about to have a serious, eight year headache. My ten year old daughter, Marlie, is now entering the eye rolling, door slamming, “my parents are idiots” stage of life. It has only been a few months since Marlie started displaying all of the tell tale signs of pre adolescence and I’m already sick of it. Every time she is asked to do something, she responds with an emphatic, “Ugh! I always have to (insert reasonable parental request here.)” Her disgusted statements are always followed by the signature stomping off to the bedroom and delivery of a dramatic monologue to her audience of one. It is pretty dang annoying.
In our house, back sass and snotty attitudes are not dismissed as a normal part of growing up. Neither my husband nor I were allowed to address our parents with such tones and we are certainly not about to break the long held tradition of elderly respect. So the pre teen angst goes ignored and the less than desirable attitudes are met with strong discipline and consequences. Will it help? I sure hope so. It doesn’t seem to do anything but make matters worse for now. I’m hoping that it will eventually stick and make a difference when the others get to be the ripe old age of ten. There is no way I will be able to stomach seven teenaged monsters who think it acceptable to treat their parents like dog poop. I will find a boot camp program faster than they can say, “You’re the meanest mom in the world!”
Yes… yes I am, if that is what it takes to turn my kids into respectful, responsible adults and I don’t care how many bottles of Excedrin I have to consume to make darn sure that they become such.
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