I struggle with sassy.- An honest confession.

After a long day today of work, appointments, parent-teacher meetings, family birthday stuff. I decided to bag the whole cooking/dishes thing. Brad and I took the kids to Scotty's for a burger, to keep it simple. But oh my, it did NOT go that way. My older daughter, mostly when she's over-tired (I think/ secretly hope) can have a huge attitude toward us sometimes. It is the complete, eye rolling, slight head tilting (you know what I mean), looking away, 'whatever', 'OK', or 'so' comments. I struggle with sassy. The sad thing really is how much it truly affects our overall family mood and dynamic at the moment. We become angry with her, she becomes worse, we become more angry: grounding, grounding, grounding, we're not going to tolerate this, you won't act like this..I'm sure you know the drill. Then she's crying and we are now arguing with each other (Brad and I). A vicious cycle to be sure. Honestly, the people around us in the restaurant probably couldn't even see what she was doing or saying, and could totally hear us and wondering what the heck we were going on about.

When my kids were toddlers, I was always one of those parents that would NOT tolerate crying fits or tantrums, especially in stores. I'd always pack up and leave. But this somehow, I am not good with. I am not sure the effect is the same at this age if she just smarts off, rolls her eyes, says whatever, and I cancel our dinner order, or leave it in the middle, and take her outside??? Maybe it is?? I have this article I actually try to refer to quite a bit. A friend of mine, A.W. posted it on her Face book page one day as super helpful in parenting, and really I think it has been to me, especially in trying to correct some behaviors. But others... ugh... I am completely sure I am not doing it right. She just completely knows how to get to me and get under my skin, and then all of the good parenting I am trying to instill goes out the window.

We all left dinner, somber, with a dark cloud over us, not at all feeling like going out to dinner made life more simple for the evening. I came home to homework, baths, a grounded kid and bed time. I sent Brad out for a drink with friends, and I picked up a new book, made a cup of tea and headed to the pantry for my secret chocolate stash...Ahhh Life...