i am coming to the end of my rope living with my parents. my daughter is the best thing that has ever happened to me. that said, she’s a handful. i have a certain parenting style that seems to work with her. it is “if you really want it you will do it yourself” and “go ahead an scream, it won’t change my mind or get you what you want”. what is NOT working is the mix of my style, we’ll call it: tough love, with my parents style, we’ll call it: let the grands fix it. last night was a prime example. she did not want to get dressed. so i shut the bathroom door and explained to her that neither of us would be leaving that room until she put her clothes on. so she screamed, and screamed, and SCREAMED. then she gave in. but before i could call it a victory, there was a minor setback. all the time she was screaming she was calling for my mom, who knows better than to intervene when i am in the midde of a power struggle. my father on the other hand, who thinks he is still the boss of me – and thusly can tell me how to raise my kid – had to come and make sure that everything was alright. yes, everything is fine. no, we dont need your help. no, we dont need you to sit her down and explain to her how not listening is bad and hurts everyones feelings. what i need is for her to put her clothes on. and to do it for only two reasons. one – it is dinner time and two(and maybe more importantly)- because I SAID SO.
now, i love my parents. i am so very grateful that they have opened their home to us in our time of need. i am just really hoping that some time in the NEAR future baby girl and i can move into our own place, so there will be no more confusion as to who is boss and what the rules are. plus it is getting a little cramped with all of our stuff pushed into the one room we share.