Ugh, Teenagers
I have mentioned my niece, Laura, recently. She's in Ohio, I'm here. We email each other a fair bit. She's a very tempestuous 14. She is very clingy and needy and will somewhat often throw temper tantrums even through email, and from my adult perspective for no good reason:
She doesn't want to share me with her sisters or other family members
She wants me to read her a bedtime story
She bewails bedtime.
Something-something, security blanket.
Sometimes it's OMG, she just has to come live with me
I have to come home to Ohio
I get less grief from the 18 month old some days, I swear to jeebus. And I know what she wants. Attention. And she is choosing an unhealthy way to get it.
A lot of the time, I just don't respond to the email where she flips her lid. I will occasionally explain how that's not acceptable, and yet, I haven't really seen a marked difference. I'm at a serious disadvantage. I rarely talk to her on the phone, I do not have a chance to see her face to face. But this must end. How do I guide her towards more mature behavior without threatening to abandon her?
Help?
She doesn't want to share me with her sisters or other family members
She wants me to read her a bedtime story
She bewails bedtime.
Something-something, security blanket.
Sometimes it's OMG, she just has to come live with me
I have to come home to Ohio
I get less grief from the 18 month old some days, I swear to jeebus. And I know what she wants. Attention. And she is choosing an unhealthy way to get it.
A lot of the time, I just don't respond to the email where she flips her lid. I will occasionally explain how that's not acceptable, and yet, I haven't really seen a marked difference. I'm at a serious disadvantage. I rarely talk to her on the phone, I do not have a chance to see her face to face. But this must end. How do I guide her towards more mature behavior without threatening to abandon her?
Help?