Sigh.
As I was on my way home BW texted me that our little charge was not in charge of her emotions today and misbehaved seriously at another person’s house.
It’s one thing to misbehave at our house but to do it at another’s house that’s really, really bad.
You see, it started as soon as she got home from school. She and her friend Carson asked for a Popsicle. This was starting to become a regular thing and it’s one thing on a nice summer day but completely different on some random schoolday.
They then went over to Carson’s house and when it was time to go home, our perfect little child would not and had a right fit about having to go home. This fit was so bad that BW had to go and get her in the car, and even then the child refused to get in the car and walked home screaming all the way with BW driving beside her in the car.
She gets inside and then proceeds to scream for close to an hour and would not listen at all for a good hour until I got home.
Under normal circumstances, a mis-behave might range from some idle threat to having 3 “no fun days” as we call them here. It’s the 2025 version of being grounded.
But, because she acted up out in the world and had to have Mommy come and get her then it’s now an automatic five days of no fun days.
Folks, we have never had her misbehave so bad. I don’t know what’s going on.
I think there were a few variables at play here:
1. She was tired. It was Monday and she didn’t want to go to bed at a good time.
She had an influence. I’m not saying that Carson is at fault, but I think they fed off each other because Carson’s grounded too.
She’s six? Still, it’s no excuse.
So, now we’re looking down a long week of no fun days. The no fun days are the hardest on the parent because we want to play with them and have fun, but we can’t because our child acted like a little shit.
Instead, she gets to come home from school and entertain herself. We will feed her dinner and she can have a hug before bed but that’s about it. NO fun means no scooter and no youtube kids for however long it takes for this to get sorted.
I raised the bar of punishment and am making her make an apology card and we are going to walk it over to Carson’s mom. Carson’s mom has her own misbehaving child and she sure as hell doesn’t need to deal with ours too.
This did not go over well.
“I’m” not going to do that”
OH YES YOU ARE, I replied.
She HATES to get embarrassed, and having to write a thank you card and then go apologize in person is pretty embarrassing. This is the real learning moment and not the fact that she’s banned from the tablet for a few days.
It’s one thing to screw up. It’s another (and harder) to say you’re sorry. And she will be apologizing.
Once things settled down I told her that when we are invited to somebody elses home we are to act on our best bahaviour, and I gave some examples about how when we go to other’s homes we abide by their rules. And that she’s over at Carson’s house she’s representing the entire family and she has to be polite and behave. I’m not sure how much sunk in, but I tried.
And when Carson’s mom says it’s time to go home, YOU GO THE FUCK HOME.
It’s going to be a loooooong week for all of us.
Until Next Time,
TH and Co.