Cause & effect

After my last two posts, I gotta tell ya, our days aren't always sunshine, daisies, & rainbows. Two of my precious angels have turned into rotten beasts. Our house has been on a complete meltdown for 3 days. I never would have guessed that such craziness would take over my "babies" at this age. It's been days of hitting & fighting. Biting & screaming. Not listening & tears.

My oldest, RD, has starting doing the opposite of what I say. Stupid I know, but in a fit of exhaustion & desperation, I actually found myself asking her if she thought she was smarter than me. Totally came back to bite me. During one of her fits, she exclaimed "I know, because I'm smarter than you!" RD has doled out the majority of the hitting. She's made it plain & clear that she does not love her middle sister, Gala. If Gala does anything RD dislikes she hits her or pushes her down. She's even started to test the waters of teasing. If one of the girls have crackers, RD will take the remaining sleeve & wave them in the others face until they are screaming hysterically.

This behavior has trickled down to Gala. I've found her sitting on top of the baby, HC's, head or shoving her down. And when I try to discipline Gala, she says "You funny". I know Gala's merely taking out her frustration on the person smaller than her. It's a monkey see monkey do type thing. Gala has jumped on the "do everything RD does" ban wagon.

While tension keeps building, I am left trying to decide the best discipline plan. I've read article after article on discipline. Most times I find myself laughing while rolling my eyes at some of the techniques described. Seriously, given my personality, I'd have to walk away & count to a billion before I could exercise their advice. But, I do know their advice works. I've tested it in calmer situations. However, as most parents know, it's not always calm, is it?

Spanking is starting to become a worldwide NO NO. More & more parents find themselves defending their stand on spanking. My dad spanked me. Does that make it right? I have no clue but it doesn't seem to work for me. I find when I spank, it escalates the problem. I've read that spanking can lead to aggressive behavior in kids. So are my girls just exhibiting what they see? IE: I spank them, which results in them hitting when frustrated.

And time outs? I'm sorry but they are a joke. I can't even keep my kids in time out. I have to reserve those for daddy to endure.

So sorry for the rant, but I'm one worn out momma.