Friday, October 8, 2010

Must be the weather...

(Warning: I am about to whine about my current struggle as a Mom. Please don't attack, or leave nasty comments. Hopefully, you'll read and just understand.)

October sucks, and lately I can totally feel myself slipping.

The last few days I've felt totally out of control. LJ has become possessed, and DH has been working late the last 2 weeks leaving me flying solo in the parenting department. Seriously, the way this child screams, I fully expect DCFS to knock on my door at any moment! And what's terrible, is that she does it when no one is near her! It sounds like someone is stringing her by her belly-button! The most recent causes? Running out of time to do her homework (she had 3 hours to do a worksheet. She sat and played - in spite of my coaxing and offering to help - and when it got to be bedtime, I sent her to bed.) The next melt down was a few days later because her pencil wasn't sharp enough. No kidding. When DH got home, he went up to see what the problem was, (she was still screaming at 9:30 at night from her bed) and when he couldn't settle her down, he tried to leave her room. She started yelling, "NO, DADDY! NO! PLEASE, NO! DADDY, NO!" in the most horrible way, that it sounded like she was begging him to stop beating her! It was awful! What's worse is that there is nothing we can do to make her stop. Honestly, this began a few months ago, but it's just getting worse. We have tried everything. I thought she just needed more attention, but that didn't help, and neither did a reward chart. Then we tried taking away privileges - she didn't care. We moved her bedtime up a 1/2 hour. No help. I don't know what else to do. I am certainly not going to hit her! In her opinion I am just a "Big, Fat, Meanie!" Her favorite phrases as of late are, "whatever!", and "who cares?"

Granted, this is not an everyday thing. Most days, she's delightful. But this is happening 2-3 times a week. (My poor neighbors.)

I told you October sucks!

3 comments:

Mrs. Gamgee said...

I have no advice or great suggestions, but I am sending many hugs and lots of prayers for sanity, patience and peace.

AnxiousMummyto3 said...

Parenting when you have been so affected by IF and RPL is incredibly hard. I know sometimes I get to my wit's end in different situations too and think I just am not good enough. I don't have any magic suggestions either but what I can say is maybe just sit down with her when she is not having one of her tantrum days and ask her why it is happening. She is old enough now that she can really explain herself to you. It seems like afternoon/night time is when it is happening the most-maybe she is overtired as well? Or finding it difficult to wind down after school? Have there been any changes at school which could affect her as well? I don't know, this is a tough one but I know you are doing your absolute best. Hang in there. (((HUGS)))

Annie said...

My son's about the same age and has some of the same behavior, like the screaming (and we live in a duplex!). It's very frustrating to deal with. If I find any great solutions, I'll let you know!