Battle of Wits

 I'm about to lose it....at least I was last night! I'm engaged in a battle of sorts with my 9 year old daughter Amanda.  Yep, my favorite little minx has her claws out and I am doing everything in my power not to clip em!  It's only the first three, count them, 1-2-3 days of the new school year and the tug-of-war has begun!


What is it about pre-pubescent girls that makes them behave the way they do sometimes?  One minute she's the sweetest angel, one of the loves of my life.  The next minute she's a barracuda with horns!  She wants to do everything her way and nothing I do or say will get her to agree with me!  One of my rule is to have both my school-aged children, the underage ones, in bed by a certain time because they NEED the sleep! Otherwise they will have bags under their eyes (the way I do I tell them), plus, they won't be able to function throughout the day at school.  Now my son, the soon to be 17 year old, also has his moments, however, it's less fighting with him as he just does what he knows he should do and save my sanity.  But not my sweet little 9 year old; it's a war of words with her instead.

This morning as she is almost ready for school, as I comb her hair I gently (trying to keep the bite out of my voice from the memory of the stress-filled night) reminded her that she needs to remember to listen to me and show respect.  This moment was especially poignant since I had just completed signing paperwork for her class teacher and school about expected behavior in the classroom and at school and the students' code of conduct.  Do you think she would bow her head in shame and agree to behave?  Nope!  She looked me in the eye and said "I didn't do that mommy", when I mentioned her behavior the night before!

Despite our failure to agree on what happened though, I sent her off to school with a kiss, a hug and well-wishes for her to have a good day.  She wins this round. Tabled for further discussion, of course!