Wearing shades to hide the fact that I totally have tears in my eyes. Did you notice it’s just me and Isabelle? We drove all the way out to the LA Harbor today to see the Dutch Tallship Stad Amsterdam. Katie was already causing trouble on the way there, shouting in the car and kicking Jason’s seat while he was driving. We got out of the car and went and got in line to board the ship and she was being SO bad.
Katie was already causing trouble on the way there, shouting in the car and kicking Jason’s seat while he was driving.
Jason tried putting her on his shoulders, we tried to get her excited about the ship (because she couldn’t stop talking about it on the way there!), and we kept telling her if she didn’t behave she wasn’t allowed to go on. She kept insisting that she was going to behave, but her actions weren’t changing. She was screaming and thrashing around on the ground, asking for one thing after another like milk and chicken nuggets and to watch tv.
We kept telling her if she didn’t behave she wasn’t allowed to go on.
We didn’t have any of those things, and I don’t think she wanted them either, it was just a power struggle to see what she could get. We probably warned her 20 times that she couldn’t go on if she didn’t behave and when we got to the front of the line, she was still thrashing and screaming on the ground. We had no choice but to tell her she was out of chances.
We had no choice but to tell her she was out of chances.
Deep down I thought maybe Jason would take her to the car to calm down and bring her back so I boarded with Isabelle and looked around and waited. I texted Jason to see what was going on and he said they weren’t coming back (usually I’m the mean one and he’s the softie so I was surprised!) I felt bad. I mean REALLY bad. I knew it had to be done because she can’t act like that, but it still hurt my heart to take something from her she really wanted.
I felt bad. I mean REALLY bad.
She cried the whole way home, and I was a little teary-eyed myself. It’s hard to uphold consequences – especially when you drive all the way to get somewhere and have to go right home. I think I need to buckle up if this is going to be life with a threenager. Please send positive vibes – no, send beer.