Ok, all you experienced parents of pre-teens. There are some days that if I say the sky is blue, one or both of my children will tell me it's red. Please, please tell me what to do... pretend like I'm absolutely NEW TO PARENTING. It's pretty much driving me crazy.
I end up either
1. arguing and making both of us upset, or
2. agreeing with child, which makes both of us upset because they know they are wrong and therefore they know that I don't really mean they are right, or
3. trying not to say ANYTHING which is construed by them as me being angry
Case in point... Habtamu will argue with me about multiplication. I have told him many times that I will NEVER lie about 'what times what is what'. I know my times tables very well, and if he insists that 9x7 and 8x8 are the same, by golly, I'm going to challenge that. He will fight me tooth and nail and swear that 9x7 is 64, then realize his mistake, and get real quiet and write the correct answer down.
Yordanos is a literal minded youngster, and if I say it's 7:20... by golly, it had better say 7:20 on HER watch. Otherwise, I hear "No Mommy, it's 7:21. You not tell the truth." (eye twitch - mine)
Any advice to survive the onslaught of the "Mom and Dad don't know anything years" would be appreciated.
5 comments:
When you figure it out, let me know. I'm eagerly anticipating learning from you!
I don't think there is a right way to respond during this lovely stage of development. :-) You just survive it! (And share funny stories with your friends who can relate!)
I agree...you can't win when the rules of the game are irrational. I always figured our boys didn't want to be 'right' when they acted that way...they wanted to be 'in charge'. It's a power struggle.
Mike H
Good point, Mike. I think you're right. There has got to be a way to break the cycle... unless that's just part of growing up. I forget that none of us knows how to handle this stuff until we're taught it, or until we're old enough to understand that you won't get what you want that way.
What did you and Karin do in these situations?
Chris
Sorry, you have no gray matter until they reach their early 20's and then you are brilliant. The best way to get through is to remember, someday they too will lose all their gray matter and you get to sit back with an all knowing, "remember when" smirk.
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