There is, in raising children, often a bit of a dilemma. Sometimes, you have to do things that you really don't want to do, but you have to enforce behaviors. I think that is what our parents meant when they said “this is gonna hurt me more than it is you”, and we never understood that.

As chronicled before, Pint has a few behavioral issues. Mostly emotional. And, they can be hard to deal with at times.

Last night, there was a firehall dance. From 6 – 9 pm. Pint has been doing really well with her new bedtimes, so I let all three girls go to the firehall dance.

We came home with no problems. Well, two of us did. ¾ Pint was here, and missed her Mom so Nursey drove out here and picked her up at the dance and drove her back to my house and put her to bed. The other two stayed at the dance with me until 8:30 when we left to come home.

¾ Pint was already asleep when we got here. ½ Pint went down pretty well, Pint went to BED pretty well, but did not fall asleep until about 10:30. Partially because, well, mostly because of the dance, and the Sprite I let her have for a drink at the dance. Sprite = sugar. Sugar = hyper.


No biggie really.

This morning ½ Pint woke me up at 8. Nice and sunny. (her mood, not the weather). I got up, started waking Pint up. Not yelling at her. She was already in bed with us from the middle of the night. She started in yelling and whining. It got worse.

We had CCD at 9 am. One hour is sufficient for three girls to get up, eat a bowl of cereal, brush their teeth, get dressed in jeans and clean shirts and drive the ½ mile to the Church.

We did NOT make it.

Pint was literally screeching. ¾ Pint was sitting in her chair. ¾ Pint looked at her. ¾ Pint picked the same kind of cereal Pint wanted.

¾ Pint was simply sitting at the table waiting for breakfast. We do NOT have assigned chairs. It is first come, first sit at our table.

I lost it. Started yelling back. I do not take kindly to screeching in my face first thing in the morning. Pint, however, was in full steam and would not quit. I told her that there would be no girl scout bowling trip next Saturday, as this is exactly what I am talking about when I talk about behaviors and privileges. Of course, that made her screech worse.

Finally, she got up from the table and ran into her bedroom and got in her bed, still screeching. I said good and shut the door, and told her if she was gonna screech, I didn't have to listen to it. I went into the bathroom with a cup of coffee.

When I came out of the bathroom, I told her she is grounded. No TV, no computer till I am ready to talk.

So, I am thinking, first talk about the truth. My biggest goal for her is to realize actions/consequences. And to own up to things.

I want her to not blame everything on ¾ Pint who had nothing at all to do with any of this other than sitting in a chair.

So #1, is to tell, AND accept that she is wholly responsible for this mornings debacle.

#2 is to apologize.

#3 is to accept that there are now consequences for her actions this morning.

That much I can do without any problems.

The problem arises here. Do I make the consequence match the crime....or do I make the consequence match the privilege that she had which led to not enough sleep and then, a bad mood this moring.

I am trying to teach her to CONTROL her own behavior (with the help of the Patch for now). Last night was a privilege, going to the dance. She allowed the dance to affect her mood and behavior this morning and failed to control herself.


So, lose the next privilege, which is next Saturday, bowling with the girl scouts. Let ½ & ¾ Pint, both of whom had NO problem this morning, and both of whom are younger, attend? And, have Pint stay home?

Or, just a regular grounding, no TV and no computer for a couple of days....