I am referring to the teenage years with my daughter. She turned 6 this past August and if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she turned 13. She certainly acts like it. The emotions, oh, the emotions. The littlest tasks bring out all of the emotions. Crying, whining, complaining (she must have been listening to her 12 year old brother too much), screaming…you get the picture. Getting dressed. You would think I was asking her to perform brain surgery. We have tried picking out the clothes the night before, that just moves the argument to the night instead of in the morning. The only consolation there is that it is more appropriate for Mommy to have had a glass of wine at night then first thing in the morning. 😉 The arguments are about what type of outfit, skirst, pants, dresses, skorts. Does she have gym the next day? If so, no dresses unless she is wearing tights or leggings. Then you have what kind of shoes. Which color/type. Again, gym days require gym shoes. That can send us all the way back to the beginning of the whole darn procedure. Then, how is she going to wear her hair? Up, down? Pony tail or Pig Tails? Braid, no braid? All the way up or partially up? Just clips? This whole process takes WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too long. I really need to set a timer and let her know that if the decisions aren’t finished by the time the timer rings, I pick it all. So, we have it all set at night and then she wants to change her mind in the AM. She wants to wear off season clothing (sweaters when it is 90 outside, shorts when it is freezing). **Note to self, put away summer clothes this weekend. So, if this is starting now, does it mean that she is getting it out of her system now so that she can be a polite, respectful, sweet teenage girl? Not likely, but one can always dream. My Mother always told me that I would get mine when I had kids. She is referring to the payback I deserve for being such a hell raiser during my teen years. Yes, I deserve some payback, but how much is enough? We also have arguments over what she is having for breakfast. This is probably partially my doing as she has too many choices. I like variety, so have several things to choose from for breakfast. Cold cereal (4 or 5 different kinds), French Toast Sticks, Nutri-Grain Bars, fresh fruit, cheese and PB toast. I don’t recite this all off to her every day, she knows what is there. This whole decision process can take 20 minutes or so. As soon as I see her smiling face come downstairs I let her know that she needs to start thinking about what she wants for breakfast. It generally takes her a while to wake up and decide. I am fine with that. Once 7:30 rolls around, I start reminding her that she needs to make a choice. Once a choice has been made, she sits down to eat. This can take a while too. She will chatter more than she eats. Then she gets mad and emotional that I am nagging her to eat. Ay yi yi! I really can’t wait until she is 13. That is going to be so much fun! NOT!

I have to say that she does get a lot of this from Jon. He is certainly not a teenage girl, but he has got the attitude of one. I think a certain little girl needs to quit taking lessons from her big bro on behavior!