Yup, the title says it all!
Oh, the joys of mothering a very independent 8 year old drama queen.
Jared and I have been having some issues over the last few months with Kaylee lying....fibbing; whatever you want to call it. Shocker, I know...she is 8 years old. And boy does she have us figured out....or so she thinks. So she has been getting notes home from the teacher about talking during class. And we aren't just talking about simple one or two words during class, we are talking argueing with the teacher to prove her point, attempting to carry on a conversation during the silent portion of lunch, during reading time, during instructional time....ALL THE TIME.
This week, out of 5 days, we received 3 notes (all on different days). The first was for hitting a boy in the face; which according to her was on the play ground during a game of tag....not sure about the validity of all that but maybe, just maybe I'll give her that one. Then it was a note saying "Kaylee was talking after being asked multiple times to stop. She claimed that during this instance, a little girl was trying to talk to her at lunch and that Kaylee was asking the little girl to "shhhh". Sounds believable right? Could be plausable. As does the next instance. She received a note home because she was talking in class on Thursday. When talked to about it, she said that during "game time" (the kids were asked to present their favorite board game and explain/show how to play it to a group of students) During her demonstration she claimed that another child was tearing the box; which by the way was already somewhat torn and wasn't a big deal.
So after receiving ALL these notes, I e-mailed the teacher asking her to call me when she had some free time to clarify what was going on. When she called, I told her the stories Kaylee had given. The teacher laughed and begin to describe the reaction she gets from Kaylee when the teacher has requested her weekly log to write these notes on. Tears, begging, pleading...you name it. Come to find out in the lunch room, they are very lenient and so to get a note from there means you have been ignoring the people in charge many times when they tell you to be quiet. They have a 30 minute lunch. 15 minutes is quiet so the kids will eat and they can talk for the other 15 minutes. (it is broken into 5 minute incriments....not like she has to be quiet for an extreme amount of time.) The other talking incident with the game was no where near Kaylee's version. The time for instruction had ended and the teacher had clapped her hands (her way of getting their attention without having to shout) not once but 3 times. On the 2nd and 3rd time, Kaylee (GO FIGURE) was the only one talking. She told the teacher that she wasn't done with her presentation....(my thoughts: WHO CARES if you weren't done; do what the teacher said to do.) So hence the notes home.
My dilema now is what to do....how to handle all this. First, we have family in town...Grandma is here and not for a lengthy amount of time. Aunt and Uncle from out of state, Gavin is here, and we have celebration events for my sister in law's college graduation. I don't want to alienate our family from visiting with everyone who has come into town. If I don't let her "go", it essentially punishes everyone. But I can't just let this go. There must be a consequence. She knows lying is wrong, and that she gets punished.
Her pediatrician called me today regarding a conversation we had previously had about all her "behavioral" issues which are way more than I have described. Its just all to much to begin to verbalize on here. She is a great kid. SO loving, caring, bright, funny....but man is she my challange. I have myself x 100 on my hands. So back to the pediatrician....they want to schedule a consult to discuss the possibilty of and evaluate her for ADHD, ODD (oppositional-defiant disorder), OCD, Anxiety or some other potential problem. I don't necessarily want to medicate her. If I can avoid that, I plan to. But I need guidance. I need a plan. I need someone to sit me down and say "I see what you are dealing with." Validate my feelings and concerns. I need HELP. An adaption to my parenting style....something.....ANYTHING. The constant bouncing off the walls, the running in place in front of me because she can't control her energy, the issues with authority, the constant NEED to know where I am and what I am doing. The fast paced conversations....and when I say this, I mean 30 topics in under 60 seconds. So fast you feel like your head is spinning. "mom, the sun is out today, can I play, where are my shoes, the TV doesn't work, Leland is crying, What can I have for breakfast, where are my shoes...writing it doesn't even give justice. If you say the words NO, that is just an open invitation to ask again until you say yes, which I get is not uncommon for children.....but she will continuously ask for days and pretend that you told her it would happen. EX: She asked grandma the other day to take her to the park. (she doesn't play and you end up standing there with her looking at you) Grandma said NO, and not an hour later it was "Grandma, you said you were taking me to the park today". Anyway, so the pediatrician agrees that something else is playing a role in all this stuff. The appointment is next Thursday and it just doesn't seem soon enough for my sanity.
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