6/19

I knew coming into this week that it would be horrible. It seems as though every time I have a good weekend God strikes out at me in the worst way, making my days hectic, my children cranky and my employers even more demanding. This week has been especially confusing as my employer has decided to read yet another book on child rearing, and decided to commit to yet another set of disciplinary tactics that will fall through the cracks as soon as she gets in a fight with her husband or her inbox fills up. The only way I can keep up with the chameleon like changes in parenting styles is to read the books that she is subscribing to. All of these books contradict one another and none of them are exhaustive. That aside, all of these books have great recommendations that can be used in moderation. The newest book "Beyond Timeout" talks about the emotionally controlled parent, and how many parents tend to discipline in order to punish, speak to their children in anger, and yet give into them once they are "worn down". This is my employer to a tee. Their children have way too much power, and in the heat of the moment they are likely to yell, swear, or slap their kids, depending on how their anger manifests. My boss has started to implement the calm discipline tactics referred to in this book and I have followed suit in order to maintain consistency in the household. Have I noticed any difference? Not a thing. If anything the behavior has gotten worse. The oldest is four and a half and is yet to be pottied trained. I take that back, she is pottied trianed she just purposely wets and soils herself for attention, revenge etc. She also engages in huge battles with her parents and I, ones where she is throwing things, screaming and saying "I hate you" among other awful things. In the past week things have escalated to the point where she is now hitting and scratching me (she hasn't done this before) and she even defecated on the living room carpet (a sure sign of resistance to authority). I handled these episodes as competently as I could, but I started to wonder whether any discipline tactic was ever going to cure this child of her nasty behavior. Now I know it's possible that this could merely be the type of situation where it has to get worse before it gets better, but will it ever? Before I started nannying I worked in various types of childcare and never have I encountered a child who behaved so vilely as this one does. The kids that acted out horribly in daycare were almost always those who had histories of broken homes or abuse. This little girl (we'll call her Tori) has none of those. Aside from the occasional slap from her dad and yelling from her mom, this child has endured nothing traumatic to speak of.

I should mention though that when she's not throwing a temper tantrum she's a little ball of sunshine. However should you tell her something she doesn't want to hear, babysitter beware!!! Previous to this job, I was cocky enough to think I could handle any situation with any child, no matter how obstinate. I'm starting to see how naive I was.