Seriously?

For those who were just dying to hear the result of last night's sleep experiment:

FAILURE.

Kristina acted ridiculous. I just don't get it. After an hour of trying to convince her to sleep in her own bed, Danny gave up. Whatever happened to putting your kid in bed, saying "goodnight", and walking out of the room? Apparently, he couldn't handle it and in turn got pissed at me. Because it's my fault.

So in the end, I spent another sleepless night squashed between my husband and the heater/wall. And for those of you out there who are saying "Wow, you're so mean. She's a little kid. Why can't you let her sleep with you?!" My answer to that? She is old enough to sleep in her own bed. Her little brother sleeps in there too, so its not like she is alone. We offered to leave lights on and doors open all night. We tucked her in, read her stories, gave her snacks, let her watch Nick Jr. before we brought her in. She just wants to have her way and NO ONE says "NO" to her. SIGH. We're working on it.

When I was a child, I went to bed by 8PM or when I was told because I had respect for my parents and knew that they made the rules. They tucked me in, read me a story, and I went to sleep. Why is it that parents allow their children to own them now? It is sad and I am not going to be one of those people. I love my son and I love my step-daughter, but there is no way ithat I am going to let either of them tell me what to do. With Evan, I have more control over his upbringing, but with Kristina its different. We barely see her so it is much harder to have a stable routine with her. Obviously she acts out because of the lack of time she spends with us and the less we see of her, the harder it is to help her with it.

The fact that no one can say "NO" to her isn't helping either. She is old enough to know that she can cry and throw a tantrum to manipulate people into getting what she wants. If someone doesn't change that soon, she might pull that forever. I'm afraid that she will get older and become uncontrollable. I went through that myself. My parents stopped giving me structure and tried to be my best friend. When that happened, I got everything I wanted by throwing a tantrum. I don't want to see that happen to her. It's not about her sleeping in her bed really, its about the constant attitude she has with people. I know she is going through a hard time and that she clearly misses us because we never see her, but I want to find the root of the problems with her and help her.

-Kimmy

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