The Twerrible Tweens

So about a month ago Symphony turned ten. Double digits. It’s a big deal; she says she’s a tween now (before she was a pre-tween).

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She is also a total butt.

Every thing I say to her turns into an argument. EV. REH. THAH. NNG. This week my mom sent her an advent calendar, and last night I told her she could have the chocolates every day after she practiced her piano, partially because she’s not always here in the morning/evening, and partially as a clever trick to get her to practice her piano more often. Her response: I CAN’T DO THAT BECAUSE I DON’T PRACTICE EVERY DAY SO I LIKE JUST DON’T GET CHOCOLATE THEN I’M GONNA THROW SOME STUFF ACROSS THE ROOM AND WEEP AND SNIFFLE LOUDLY THROUGH THE WHOLE OF MY PIANO PRACTICE BECAUSE IT’S NOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR. Really? I make her practice for like, 20 minutes a day. It’s not a Big Deal, or it isn’t until she FREAKS OUT about it.

This morning we had three dumb arguments before she went to school. Like, between 8 and 8:45. THREE ARGUMENTS. ALL DUMB.
1. I asked her to brush her hair again because it was still full of tangles. She stormed off muttering “I ALREADY brushed my hair whine grumble SLAM the bathroom door whine grumble complain eyeroll.”
2. She was running across the apartment with a pencil. I asked her not to because she’ll put her eye out! She walked for two steps and then started running again. I told her to stop and she goes “I was skipping eyeroll eyeroll god I’m so clever to sidestep your authoritarian rule with my brilliant skipping tactic.” OMG DO NOT EVEN ARGUE SEMANTICS WITH ME BEFORE I HAVE HAD COFFEE.
3. I was holding Georgie and stuck her little feet in my sweater pocket and joked to Taylor “Look, I have a Georgie in my pocket!” and Sym chimed in with a snotty “No you don’t, only her feet are in your pocket eyeroll.” REALLY??? I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE THAT, I THOUGHT THE ENTIRE DOG WAS IN MY TINY POCKET. SORRY FOR JOKING AROUND MS. LITERAL MINDED. Okay so this probably didn’t have to be an argument but I was on my last nerve and had already had two talks with her about her Attitude Problem.

So what the hell? Is this going to be every day now? Because I’m already sick to death of it.

UGH. TWEENS.

7 Replies to “The Twerrible Tweens”

  1. My nephew is 10 and this has by far been the worst year for him. I don’t really have any advice as I’m not a parent, but it has been something my sister has been struggling with and DEFINITELY something I’ve noticed, as I stay at their house fairly often. I’m not sure what it is about being 10, but they sure do get cranky…

  2. HAHAHA. Oh boy, she’s the best. The 9 year old I babysit is like this. I ask him to spend 30 seconds doing a math problem and then he cries for 20 minutes telling me I’m “SO MEAN” because “I JUST WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU, KATIEEE.” Clever tactic, dude, making me think you actually like me. WON’T WORK.

  3. I had a similar problem with a child I used to nanny. He had to do 45 minutes of homework and would spend the first 45 minutes of it whining, taking a total of 1.5hours to do everything. Eventually I mended rewards and gave him things he wanted. If he threw a fit, he got nothing. After about a week or so he finally started to behave. Sure a few outbursts here and there, but for the most part he wanted more free time in the afternoons and trips to the park to shoot hoops (what we came up with that he looked forward to).

    Honestly, it’s just a phase. As long as you don’t let her get her way, she’ll eventually grow out of it. Good Luck 🙂

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