Good morning All--
Yesterday, I posted about difficult child being upset at Saturday detention for hitting another student in gym class...and sure enough, when she got off the bus yesterday--she was still pretty cranky.
I work part-time for a neighbor, helping her with her horses...It's a pretty casual arrangement, but it's still a job...and when difficult child found out that she and her brother would have to go with me to the stable after school yesterday, she was upset about that, too.
I asked difficult child if she could please fill all of the water buckets. Well, she decided that she was unable to do it by herself...so she sat down on a fence rail and began to tell her brother that he would have to get the buckets for her, and he would have to get the hose for her and he would have to turn on the water for her--and she just sat there and waited. Naturally, DS did not want to take orders from his sister...and if she wasn't going to help with water buckets, then neither was he.
OK--so farm chores were obviously out....which wouldn't have been so bad by itself. However, after I took care of the water buckets, she began to pester...interrupting as the neighbor and I discussed feed supplements What's that?; Why?; What are you using that for?; What is that one?. And then she moved on to whining: When are we leaving?; I wanna go home!; Are you almost done?; Isn't it time to leave?.
Meanwhile, DS had been feeding the horses their hay...and then he moved on to feeding the cats. difficult child immediately turned her attention to him--harassing him about the cats' food...and then when the cats gathered 'round to eat--she took the opportunity to grab one (squeezing it too tightly the way toddlers do), which set off an argument as DS yelled at her to let the cat go.
After that, she took off...so that when I had finished and was ready to leave--I couldn't because I had to search the grounds looking for her.
I was so frustrated!! We were at the barn a mere hour and a half! Is it really too much to ask that she could cooperate with me for just that long?
Am I being unreasonable? Am I asking too much?
I just don't understand why little things have to be so darn difficult...
Yesterday, I posted about difficult child being upset at Saturday detention for hitting another student in gym class...and sure enough, when she got off the bus yesterday--she was still pretty cranky.
I work part-time for a neighbor, helping her with her horses...It's a pretty casual arrangement, but it's still a job...and when difficult child found out that she and her brother would have to go with me to the stable after school yesterday, she was upset about that, too.
I asked difficult child if she could please fill all of the water buckets. Well, she decided that she was unable to do it by herself...so she sat down on a fence rail and began to tell her brother that he would have to get the buckets for her, and he would have to get the hose for her and he would have to turn on the water for her--and she just sat there and waited. Naturally, DS did not want to take orders from his sister...and if she wasn't going to help with water buckets, then neither was he.
OK--so farm chores were obviously out....which wouldn't have been so bad by itself. However, after I took care of the water buckets, she began to pester...interrupting as the neighbor and I discussed feed supplements What's that?; Why?; What are you using that for?; What is that one?. And then she moved on to whining: When are we leaving?; I wanna go home!; Are you almost done?; Isn't it time to leave?.
Meanwhile, DS had been feeding the horses their hay...and then he moved on to feeding the cats. difficult child immediately turned her attention to him--harassing him about the cats' food...and then when the cats gathered 'round to eat--she took the opportunity to grab one (squeezing it too tightly the way toddlers do), which set off an argument as DS yelled at her to let the cat go.
After that, she took off...so that when I had finished and was ready to leave--I couldn't because I had to search the grounds looking for her.
I was so frustrated!! We were at the barn a mere hour and a half! Is it really too much to ask that she could cooperate with me for just that long?
Am I being unreasonable? Am I asking too much?
I just don't understand why little things have to be so darn difficult...