My Preview of the Teen Years

I've heard that for girls, the ages of 4 and 5 can be a preview of that dreaded teenage years, and I can certainly see why. Today was especially tough. It was Lee's first day back from the cruise, and at times I thought Bridges had somehow swapped her for another kid, or perhaps she'd drank some crazy potion down in Mexico.

I won't go into details of the behavior. Aside from other niceties, she repeatedly expressed a desire to put a spell on me that would make me die (and Clara as well; let's not forget her). I have never seen behavior like this from Lee.

Well, I learned a few things today. First (and I already know this but it is oh so hard and yet oh so important to remember), things go much much better if I don't lose my temper. If I can step back and remain rational, then the world seems consistent and rational to her. Second, she's tired (looking back on my terrible teen years I wonder if I wasn't overtired a good deal of the time). This sounds obvious but in the heat of the moment it's easy to forget. Third, I need to keep telling her that there are natural consequences for her behavior and these have nothing to do with whether or not I love her. Fourth, I need to tell her I do love her even when she behaves like this, because that's what family is. And lastly and most importantly, she is not a bad girl. She's a wonderful girl who happens to be behaving badly. Isn't that the the human condition? We all behave badly at times and all we can do is try and do the best we can.