It's begun...

I just had a talk with my girls about how they have been acting towards me lately.  They, of course, only act like this with me.  I remember my mother having the same talk with my brother and me.  I don't get why this happens.  I don't know how to change it.  But I get what my mom told us back in the day.  I'm sorry mom.  I know how it feels, and it's not fun.

So it begins with Cadyn having a constant attitude and thinking she is Austin's boss, and Austin growling, grunting or just plain throwing a fit whenever she doesn't get her way.  So I sit with them in their room before bed.  They start crying when I talked to them tonight about how they have been acting WITH JUST ME.  They don't do it with dad, they don't do it with Mimi and Pops, they don't do it with Aita and Aito, they don't do it at school...just me. Lucky me.  Don't get me wrong, I love that they behave with everyone else, but I would love to not have a screaming tantrum EVERY time I tell Austin it's time to go to bed.  It's not a surprise, it's gonna happen every day (bedtime, that is).  So they responded very well to my plea for better attitudes and better behaviors...it'll probably last a day. Very apologetic and wanting to be better.  I truly have good girls, they just act like fools sometimes.

Austin tells me (while conjuring up tears...though forced at first, it was truly heartbreaking): "I know I'm not the best girl in this house, but I want to be better.  I know I'm not the best girl in this house."  I started tearing up.  I told them that nobody in this house is perfect, Austin's not perfect, Cadyn's not perfect, I'm not perfect...Cadyn interrupts (crying), "Yes you are mom, you ARE perfect.  You are perfect to me."  Dammit, I can't keep it together.

I tell them that we are going to start limiting their T.V. because I feel like it's impacting their attitudes and they aren't learning anything from it.  I tell them about the amount of T.V. I watched when I was their age (umm, I couldn't think of anything other than on the weekends like T.G.I.Fridays, Saturday morning cartoons, and the occasional MTV Music Video Premier).  There is no T.V. tomorrow.  There will be less T.V. from here on out.  There will be more reading/math/chores..responsibilities.  I mean, I was reading book after book at Cadyn's age.  Sweet Valley Twins, Garfield, Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine, Charlotte's Web, Sideways Stories from Wayside School...to name a few.  I want this for my girls, and Cadyn said, "I know that you are just doing this because you love us and want the best for us.  I'm so sorry."

Things have got to change, and there's no better time than now.