Thanks so much Martha. I appreciate your kind words. What you say makes total sense. Its just hard to see the end of the tunnel right now. I see you have twins that are 3. I honestly don't know how people have more than 1 child. Perhaps if Katy hadn't been my first I would have bit the bullet again. I'm 37 and I don't know if I can handle doing this all again. Part of me wonders if Katy had a sibling she might be easier, but my psychologist said that she could be worse!! I know what you mean about not being a follower. I've always believed that. She is smart as a whip. People are always amazed at her command of the English language. She knows some pretty big words too =-) I'm just so scared about doing the right thing in my parenting to channel all this stuff the right way. Its such a critical part of making them who they will become. Anyway. Thanks very much for writing. You don't know how much I appreciate it!! Katy had a good day at Lori's yesterday. She didn't throw up all week =-). Hopefully we are on our way to getting over that little phase. I took her to buy a treat on the way home yesterday since she was such a good girl for Lori all week. I just hope we can build on this now. Thanks again! Sam
-----Original Message----- From: doug [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 6:16 AM To: canada Subject: [canada] for Sam "Its been a really hard few weeks. I do honestly doubt myself and my parenting skills a lot lately." Awww, Sam! I hate to hear you say that! Don't doubt yourself. You're doing a great job at facing a really difficult challenge. You're not sitting around hoping this will fix itself, you are actively pursuing help and guidance to get through this problem - that is sooo much more than many of us parents are smart enough to do! You are also smart to find ways to vent, here and hopefully with your friends and family. It's so important to find ways to get some of your frustrations and concerns out so you're not bottling them up. I think so many of children's behaviours are personality related, not "parenting" related. The kind of strong willed behaviour you're describing is like that. I don't think you can "parent" that away and I don't think you should. It can be such an asset. Strong willed people are less likely to be followers. They won't succumb to peer pressure as easily as others. They are the people who are often very successful in their education, careers, etc... They can also have trouble accepting authority. I think the parenting challenge here is to find ways to positively channel the positive aspects of the strong willed personality and find strategies to minimize the negative aspects of this personality. "I just hope the teenage years are nicer to me (ha ha I know!!)" Don't psych yourself out about the teenage years! You are really on top of her behaviours now. It is hard work right now, but you may find ways to work "with" her behaviour, rather than "fight" it. If you are able to do that now, you'll be all set for the teenage years and be way ahead of the other parents who dealing with these kinds of behaviours for the first time when the hormones hit! So try to find a positive side to this whole thing. Be pleased that your daughter won't be "pushed" around and excited to know that you're identifying the issues now so that you have lots of time to develop a really great relationship with her. Big ((((HUGS)))). I know it's hard. I wish you the best. Martha Mom to Hayley (6) and Rachel and Sam (3) --- You are currently subscribed to canada as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% --- You are currently subscribed to canada as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% ---------- --- You are currently subscribed to canada as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/BCfwlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> <a href=http://English-12948197573.SpamPoison.com>Fight Spam! Click Here!</a> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kumpulan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
