It’s Phee’s birthday tomorrow and I’m not coping that well. She’s turning 8, and had been so excited that her birthday is coming up. She’s stopped being excited now though because of us, Rae and I, and it’s hard to take.
We’ve cancelled her birthday party this year because of her atrocious behaviour, and I mean atrocious. Two weeks ago it seemed like a good idea but now, with her birthday tomorrow, we feel terrible. There’ll be no kids running around, no extra presents. Just a flat Saturday afternoon and, knowing Phee, nothing will be learnt.
It’s tough at the moment. Phee is 8 going on 15. Everything is an argument, she knows better than us with everything, doesn’t do things we ask “because I didn’t want to”, she answers back to us and her grandparents, expects everything and will do nothing. I know she’s only 8 but there is absolutely no concept of respect. It’s not fair on Phee that she’s not having an 8th birthday party, but it’s nor fair on Rae that she comes home in tears because she can’t cope with Phee being smart and feeling like she has failed in her role as a mother when it comes to bringing Phee up ‘properly’. The other night Phee laughed when I was telling her how disappointed I was after she had yelled at her mum (again) but she then burst in to tears when I told her her punishment was the cat couldn’t sleep in her room that night.
I’m rambling now, I know, but we are at a dead end. Nothing seems to be working, we’re feeling bad for what we feel we have to do and we can’t see an end in sight.
So think of Phee tomorrow with no party and think of us feeling the pain of on 8 year old girl who probably doesn’t understand why.