Puberty ahoy!

[ciroccoj]

So, Daniel is twelve, and days like yesterday I rather fear the future.

He used to do this unholy meltdown thing when he was littler. He'd start getting paranoid and it would feed on itself until eventually he'd be shrieking and completely out of control. It's part of why we pulled him out of school; at home, I could provide a reality check and nip the hissy fit in the bud, but at school, with thirty other kids to deal with, his teachers didn't have that option. We figured before he got it into his head that he was a Problem Child who spent vast amounts of time in the office, we should take him out and help him deal with the problem somewhat more constructively and proactively.

This works, most of the time. Occasionally he still has hissy fits, but the meltdown thing hasn't been a regular visitor in a long, long time.

Hello, Puberty!

The day started with him yelling at Justin over their morning video game. They are allowed to play video games in the morning so that they will not wake up the sleeping parentals. So, not a lot of point to them playing if they're going to wake us up because of their game. He got sent to the basement and told no more laptop today.

Didn't go over well. Eventually Chris came downstairs, I don't remember what happened next but at one point Daniel was in the basement shrieking in fury about... something damn important, I'm sure, but as his voice had reached a register only bats could hear, I can't say.

Did calm down eventually. And we started our day. No school; we walked 45 minutes to a friend's house for a home school play group, one hour there, 45 minutes back, stopping at a lovely bagel place for lunch.

Got home. They started their work. Daniel was writing a math test and was extremely distractable, and had to be told to get back to work several times.

Eventually I started to feel bad for the kid, as he'd been 'writing' for about two hours and it wasn't supposed to be that long a test. Told myself that instead of going away and checking back on him every so often, I should sit near him so I could redirect more quickly. I am trying to get him to stay on task without prompting, but today it was obvious that the experience was not teaching him anything and what the heck, he'd already wasted an hour.

I thought he would appreciate this.

Hahahahahaha.

Yeah, no. He started to get angry at me for hovering over him and being disappointed in him.

Um... Daniel, sweetie, of course I'm disappointed. You've been writing for two hours. Aren't you disappointed?

::kid fumes::

Cut a long story short, eventually it was time to go to TKD and he wasn't done. I checked his test and he had two questions missing, worth 2 points each, out of 100 points.

"All right, well, it's time to go."

"WHAT??!!"

"Well, you had three hours to do a one-hour test. You're only missing four points, though." I meant this as a comforting, 'Hey, don't freak out, you got almost all of it.'

Hahahaha.

"WHAT??!! I'm missing FOUR POINTS!!!" ::rant here, the test is too hard, he worked all afternoon, it's 6:30 and he's been working on this ALL DAY, this is the WORST DAY EVER yadda yadda yadda::

"Daniel, what about this morning? How about remembering that you didn't even start school until way past noon?"

"That's because I was in a TIME OUT!!!"

At this point I had the unfortunate reaction of laughter. The time-out had lasted all of six minutes, but it had blotted out the entire morning experience.

Oh my goodness was laughter ever not the right reaction.

Justin tried to comfort him and got screamed at for his trouble. Chris laughed at something unrelated to Daniel and also got hit with the sh*t fit.

Eventually Chris decided not to let him go to TKD. In the foul little mood he was in, he would've either burst into bizarre shrieking or tried to punch one of the higher belt students.

OMG if this is what adolescence is going to bring us, I'm going to need a stiff prescription for Valium. And a lot of rum.

Comments

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world. Times 25. (on average) Okay, really only about 2 or 3 in twenty five kids (on any given day) are like this. But! Then we can multiply it by the fact that I am 52. Makes for lovely chemistry. Really it does. *snort*

But seriously, I am so sorry your day went like this. I feel your pain!

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Oy vey. Seriously, oy vey. I love the age group, but this kind of drama is just not on with even one kid, let alone 2 or 3 at a time.

Then we can multiply it by the fact that I am 52. Makes for lovely chemistry. Really it does. *snort*
LOL!

[snarkhunter.livejournal.com]

Oh, lord. Poor Daniel. And really poor you.

I have an absolutely *filthy* temper. To the point where I'm afraid of it myself.

As a teenager, I was, in retrospect, quite nearly out of control when I it nuclear meltdown stage. At age 16, in a single night, I punched a closet doorknob through my brother's bedroom door and put my foot through a wall. All of our remote controls at the time were cracked or taped up, b/c I'd thrown them so many times. And when I was 19 or so, I busted up my wrist--bruised the bones very badly--b/c I punched a wall during a fight with my dad. At some point in my mid-teens, I took up hitting myself to avoid hitting others.

Those were some of the low points. And I haven't even gotten into the whole schoolwork-related meltdowns.

I have no idea how my parents handled it. :/

Sorry your day sucked. And oh, adolescence.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

As a teenager, I was, in retrospect, quite nearly out of control when I it nuclear meltdown stage.
Wow, yeah that's rather impressive. I can have quite the temper myself :(

Those were some of the low points. And I haven't even gotten into the whole schoolwork-related meltdowns.
Eeeep.

I have no idea how my parents handled it. :/
Prayer and perseverance? I'm thinking of taking up secular Buddhism.::sigh::

[batita.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaah, rum. Also known as Mommy's Medicine ;)

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

::clinks glasses:: Indeed :) :)