Reply #35: When they are teenagers they are even worse...

[hunter]

:headbang:

The way to keep your cool is to keep your cool. A "time out" is as much for you as it is for her.

I have two kids. They are polite in public, they do well in school, but I swear, at home they can be monsters. If I hadn't had so much, um, practice dealing with them when they were younger, there's no way I could cope now.

The problem may be that you are okay, or maybe have some positive feelings about "insert activity here." With my kids "insert activity here" is usually something I see as okay or positive, like drawing, writing, playing basketball, etc., but you know, really, sometimes they've got to clean their bathroom.

I also have had trouble getting them to do things for themselves. When they were little, yeah, I could make them breakfast and lunch, and do their laundry, but now I'm not willing to be their servant. My youngust will drag on before school, not make his lunch, not have his clothes together, and then as he's going out the door with one shoe on, and the other in his hand say, "Oh, I need some lunch money," and his brother will say "I MADE MY LUNCH" and then they fight as I'm driving them to school.

One of these days I'm going to throw them both out of the car.