Brighten, bless her dramatic soul is a force to be reckoned with. My job in life is to try and teach her how to constructively harness that stubborn soul of hers. I know where she got it :). We have tried everything with that child. They don't last for minutes but hours. As anyone who has actually come in contact with her knows, that she is deceiving. Her frame is small, her voice is like a "mouse" according to one teacher. But she can unleash a terror that is a force to be reckoned with. This time it was over the fact that I asked her to put the sheets on her bed. She needed help, she said, and I politely offered to help. But it was still too hard. The weeping, wailing, and nashing of teeth began. It lasted an hour. (no doors, walls, or people were harmed....she is a strong little thing) I've gotten really good at remaining calm and I got pictures this time... Mean right? Well I am just so darn proud of myself that I have this much patience. 2 hours later, her sheets were on and her clothes were put away. I did not raise my voice or give in to the attention getting. Victory! Is this normal dramatic girl, or should she be on meds?!
5 comments:
Not only normal girl, I imagine, but normal boy too. My middle kid is like this and sometimes after hours of lamenting and the thing he's freaking out about finally done I think, "see, that took 5 minutes to do, yet you've spent much of the morning a miserable mess." Logic does not apply to these kids. Good job with the patience. I bet, though, that you feel just as worn out as she does. It sure takes it out of you.
I hope you all went to bed early after that one!! If she needs meds, so does Jeff. He has dramatic, self destructing tantrums every other week or so. He is completely impossible to reason with. His last one was over the fact the babysitter had to make dinner and not play Nerf wars with him. Huh?????
I'm all for taking pix during the tantrums--it gives them a chance to see themselves in that state. Sometimes, they are just so wrapped up in their own little world that they have NO IDEA of their effect on others. I've got some great shots of Schmobie, and I've got them posted too.
I had a sister who was like that (so was I- but I outgrew it as a four-year-old; she outgrew it when she was 13...). She threw temper tantrums like you would not believe... the whole gamut (although I don't know if she ever tried throwing up). My mom would put her in her room until she stopped crying; she would come out to the living room and scream louder. My mom put her back in the room and locked the door from the outside; my sister pushed out the window screen, climbed out her window and went back in the front door so she could scream some more, publicly.
But she did finally outgrow it and she is an amazing girl now with a drive to do things like you would not believe. She is finishing her last year of law school right now. So don't give up hope-- and don't give in. Good job sticking to your guns!
Those pictures are priceless. I can feel your pain just looking at them. I kind of had to laugh too. Sorry. Sometimes you just have to laugh. What's that saying from the Glad garbage bag commercial--don't get mad, get glad! Love it, but sorry you have to deal with that.
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