"You're An Awful Parent!"

An awful parent. That's what "Daughter" called me yesterday. I guess in her eyes, I was/am, but in the big picture, I think I was right.

Lately "Daughter's" attitude has been terrible. She talks back to "Wife" and I on a regular basis, has frequent melt downs, and has been acting, to put it bluntly like a spoiled brat. Yesterday was the last straw. She started talking back and I didn't want to hear any more. I sent her to her room and told her she was grounded for the day. No friends, no TV, no computer, nothing. Just lots of time to sit and think about what she had done. This was coming on the heels of a two day period of no bike because she "forgot" hers at a friends house. How do you forget that you rode a bike somewhere and then walked home? Don't your feet remind you? "Hey, we didn't have to work this hard a few minutes ago."

Daughter didn't take the grounding well. There was a brief episode of her screaming like I was hanging her by her ankles and hitting the soles of her feet with a cane. It was during this time that my parenting skills, or lack thereof were called into question. Other people didn't take the grounding well either. My mom called, and when the conversation turned to "Daughter" she was appalled that I had the audacity to punish my own child. How quickly people forget. This outrage was coming from a woman who had once broken a plate over the head of one of my brothers when he got mouthy at the table. My best friend was also shocked that I had grounded "Daughter". "She's a good kid." Yeah, I know. She's a good kid who's acting like she's possessed by the devil.

Am I the only person who still thinks it's OK to discipline their kids? I didn't beat her or resort to psychological torture, I just sent her to her room. I let her come out to eat and use the bathroom. Part of me wanted to send her in a bucket and just slide some bread under the door. My mom thinks it just might be her age. Well, if she's not careful it will be hard to reach the next age. I don't know much about girls entering puberty or the mystery of the "tween" years, and quite frankly, I don't want to know. It's scary enough having to deal with "Wife's" mood swings, throwing "Daughter" into the crazy hormone mix scares the hell out of me.

I tried to explain to "Daughter" that part of being a parent is doing things that your kids don't like, and that discipline is one of those things. I know I've got a long road ahead, but I'm not giving up. Someday, when "Daughter" has to ground her own kid, maybe she'll see that I wasn't so awful after all. I won't hold my breath. Later...Brian