A couple of weeks ago, Stephen and I went on a date night. Our sweet babysitter came- the one who came basically every morning this summer. The girls love her. Well, our babysitter had to text me during the play because the girls were not listening to her. When we called her back, she was apologizing profusely for bothering us (not a worry), but that they were refusing to go to bed, they were yelling "NO!" at her, and they were... gulp... hitting her. Well, I think Taylor was the hitter. We asked to speak to the girls but they refused to get on the phone. A huge part of me was so upset that I wanted to leave right then and there... but, we sat back down, followed up with the babysitter about 30 minutes later, and she said that they were in bed. I didn't really enjoy the rest of the play, because I was so mad, but I was glad they had at least stopped that terrible behavior madness.
You always want to think that your kids are going to behave when you're not around. I mean, I know they're never going to be perfect... but you want to think they are respectful to others. Not in this case. Uggh.
So... Stephen and I talked on the way home. What to do? So many punishments don't really resonate with them. We decided that they would be on restriction for a week. No TV. No sweet snacks. No computer/cell phone/ipad. No friends or fun events. And the restriction was even extended by a day because the girls snuck twizzlers out of the pantry and ate them. Overall, the 8-day restriction went well- they respected the punishment (besides the twizzler incident) and even reminded us sometimes if we were doing something that went against their punishment. One sweet thing was that, on her own, Sydney wrote the babysitter an apology letter and walked it up, with Stephen, to her house.
OK, so that punishment came and went. Then today... oh, today... it was horrible. And it was just Sydney this time. We went out with a few of Sydney's friends this afternoon, and her BFF was going to come back and spend the rest of the day and night with us. I think what started the meltdown was when she wanted her friend to sit in the very back of the car with her instead of Taylor. Taylor didn't want to move her seat and got upset when I asked her if she would (she often times gets and feels left out with Sydney and her friends). So, Sydney's friend sweetly said she would sit in the middle row, by herself.
Sydney was doing everything under the sun to annoy Taylor and make her cry- just to prove a point to me that she and Taylor argue and shouldn't sit by each other. She was hitting Taylor, pushing her, sticking her tongue out at her, and much more. It was a scream fest the whole way home. I started counting how many times Sydney hit Taylor (21) and when we got home, she had to go to time out for 21 minutes. When she got off of timeout, she was so cranky, she kicked her brother and almost made his head hit the corner of a dresser, she yelled at me, was screaming/crying... it was INSANE. So, I added more time to time out. Of course, all this time I was threatening that I'd have to call Raegan's mom and she'd have to go home. I really didn't want that to happen. But, after threatening her 4 times, I knew I had to follow through with it. So, I let her mom know and she came and picked her up. I felt terrible, but knew I needed to prove a point.
Sydney was SO upset. But I'm glad she knows now that we're not going to be playing with her. We also went to a pool party/cookout tonight, and she wasn't allowed to swim. She was so bummed when we got there and she had to watch.
Is this going to help? Who knows. But, I think it's worth the attempt. I am also now officially terrified about the teenage years. If she flipped out today over literally nothing, how's it going to be when her first crush breaks her heart? Or her best friend stabs her in the back? Sigh...
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