Parenting 'Tweens (9-12) Support Group
This community is focused on the joys, challenges and concerns faced by parents of tweens (9 to 11 year olds). The major areas of child development include: physical development, perception and sensory development, communication and language development, cognitive development, emotional development and social development.
I was taking my 11 yr old daughter to a weekend girlscout camp. She's explosive by nature. Her attitude got increasingly surly on the 50 mile drive due to gridlock traffic and making last-minute stops. Eventually, when we were 9/10ths of the way there, the situation culminated with her yelling the F word in my face - eyes blazing. I told her she would not be camping this weekend. Dropped just her little sister off at the camp and drove her back home.
She begged me to let her stay at the camp. She declared how sorry she was. She told me I hated her and she wished she were dead.
My goal here is to teach her that actions have consequences that you have to live with. You cannot just say or act however you please. You need to control your temper and that how she behaved was not an appropriate way to handle stress.
I have been second guessing my self here and I could use some comments/criticism from knowledgeable folks. Was I too hard on her? We typically use the 1-2-3 magic system, and I didn't give her official counts when I should have. I was trying to concentrate on the road.
She begged me to let her stay at the camp. She declared how sorry she was. She told me I hated her and she wished she were dead.
My goal here is to teach her that actions have consequences that you have to live with. You cannot just say or act however you please. You need to control your temper and that how she behaved was not an appropriate way to handle stress.
I have been second guessing my self here and I could use some comments/criticism from knowledgeable folks. Was I too hard on her? We typically use the 1-2-3 magic system, and I didn't give her official counts when I should have. I was trying to concentrate on the road.
I think you did the right thing. How frustrating that was for you. It's hard to be a good parent. I question myself, too. We try to give warnings and be nice but that doesn't always work. I hope she learned from this. Don't be hard on yourself. Take care..
Punishment is no big deal. But, need to make sure it builds the relationship
My 2 cents