My dear sweet little girl! Oh I love her! I love her so dang much! Some days it just drives me crazy! As all of you parents out there know, being a parent is the hardest thing in the world! I know that I want Abby to always be happy, healthy, and smiling! She has the best smile and laugh if you have never seen it, I'm sorry but you are truly missing one of God's greatest blessings!
However, that sweet little girl, she is a pistol! (Although I have no clue where in the world she gets it! hehehe, definitely not from me, I'm the sweetest person on the earth!) Partially because of how we are raising her, but also she is just like me she is VERY VERY independent! We are trying to raise her to think about being a open minded, think for yourself, considerate, loving, caring young woman! I want her to think about everyone else and help whoever and whenever she can. I want her to understand, that helping people makes us better people, spiritually, emotionally, and physically! I want her to understand how lucky we as a family are and be willing to open her heart to those that others tend to push aside! I want her to understand, that God created us all equal, and we are ALL acceptable no matter what, race, gender, disability, sexual preference, body shape, the way we look etc.
I am not going to lie, we are tough on her, we are consistent, and do not allow her to do things that other parents allow kids her age to do. Abby must say yes sir yes ma'am, she says please and thank you whenever neccesary. Abby waits (or is supposed to) until she is called on when two other people are talking. If she wants to talk in a group setting she waits to be called on and raises her hand. She has chores and earns money, 1/3 she saves long term, 1/3 she saves for a major purchase, something she really wants, and 1/3 she can spend immediately or save, most of the time she saves it! Abby understands that everyday in life we have to make choices and for those choices there are rewards and/or consequences. Abby gets spankings, and goes to timeout. She recieves warnings and explanations of what thing(s) have happened.
This being said, we have been experiencing a little bit of trouble with the pistol of a daughter that we have. We have continued to be consistent and strong! She will know that certain choices are unacceptable and we tell her that, no butter coating, using big words and talking with her! We have taken away 1 toy her and there and done lots of timeout and spankings which have begun to not work. We had a big talk with Abby on Friday before our company got here about the way we react to things, and we both decided that if a fit was thrown, we both felt that packing up all of Abbys' toys for a few days would be acceptable.
Yesterday, Abby was jumping around the house and on accident landed with her bottom sitting on Tylers head. I told her that I was not upset with her, but this was her warning and that she could have seriously hurt Tyler or herself and I didn't want her jumping around like a crazy person. She acknowledged what I had discussed with her and returned to playing. After a very short 2-3 minutes she jumped again and once again landed on Tyler, I asked Abby to stop what she was doing and told her that I had given her a warning and asked her not to jump around and that she had not listened, she needed to go to timeout for a few minutes. At that mention a fit began brewing and the screaming started, I once again calmly told her that her screaming was unacceptable and she needed to go to timeout! The screaming and jumping up and down got worse. I picked her up and took her to timeout told her to calm down or she would receive a spanking for screaming and acting out. It continued and so she received a spanking, I told her that we had talked about taking toys away for throwing a fit and if she did not stop the screaming we would pack all of her toys up and lock them up. After the few minutes that I had given her to calm her self down and she didn't even try, she was told to go get trashbags and she would help me pack her toys to lock them up. So she did, we packed up every toy in her room and locked them in my closet.
Abby is allowed to earn back her toys for good behavior. Today has been one of the best days we have had in a long time! I am very proud of my little girl. She will have very good strong morals, and understanding that she has to work for everything! Instant gratification is not something that will occur in this house! She will not just receive anything just for in life! I know this maybe harsh, but have you seen some of the kids out there in this world. They act like we owe them something just because. Abby will have everything she needs, and yes she is spoiled and has more than she needs, but she will not act like anybody owes her anything. I want her to understand that hard work pays off and can get you anywhere in the world! I want her to have the respect for herself that so many ( including me sometimes) lack. I don't ever want her to feel like she has to depend on anyone, that she can not do something.
I want her to be so proud of herself that she knows how she got where she is in life! She will make mistakes and I know that she will overcome those. I want her to know that it is okay to make mistakes, but we must learn from those mistakes and change the course of our lives with those results!
I want my little girl to be so many things that I am not, and have struggled with for so many years! I want her to know that she can come to me for anything, and know that I may not agree with her decision but I will support her no matter what! Abby Kate my dear, I love you so very much! One day I hope that you are able to look back and thank us, I know all to well, how much I hated my parents for the way they raised me, but I am so much better of a person because of it and I truly appreciate them making me do the things they did, and not letting me fall in with everyone else!
Abby has such thoughtful, loving, and caring parents who do what's best for her. She's such a SWEET little girl, and I know that she'll grow up to be as proud of you as you are of her. Keep doing good things, Mama!
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