My daughter is 8 going on 16. She is full of rebellion, attitude, crazy emotions, and everything else that makes up a teenager...but she is 8! I have gotten used to the "I hate you!" that seems to come out of her mouth at least once a week. I know she is upset and venting and she will soon get over it. But I wasn't prepared for what she said today. "You hate us!" Maybe she realized she wasn't getting the response she wanted before so she thought she would try someting different. Aftr an insane morning trying to get everyone ready and out the door and running late. I told the children to watch for the bus as I finished writing their school notes. When I noticed they were playing instead of watching, I told them if they miss the bus and I have to take them to school I am not picking them up. As I go to hand them their notes my daughter is playing with her newest art creation, and my son turned around....and there goes the bus who doesn't even stop and give us a chance to make it to the door.
Typically we are not so bad in the morning, I have the routine down and the kids are outside plenty of time before the bus comes. I told the children to give me their pickup notes, they will be riding the bus home. Then starts the fit throwing and the blame game. The whole way to school they are crying and asking to be pick-ups. That's when she says it, "You hate us!" How heart-breaking is it to hear that your child thinks you hate them? Of course the easy thing to do would be to give in and say I will pick them up from school. But no they have to learn this lesson. I told her I do not hate them, they were given the warning to watch for the bus and chose to ignore it so this was the result of their choice.
This isn't the first time and it won't be the last where I have to be the unpopular one, be the bad guy. In fact when they get home and have to do their homework before playing outside we will have the same argument all over again. I keep saying to myself you will thank me later, though I doubt that will ever happen.
