This is going to come as a shock to all of you, but I have a third child. I've never told you about her before, because she is not a "shining star," like my other two. It's not that I'm ashamed of her, per se; it's just that I try to avoid thinking about her much. She's a very challenging child.
Near as I can tell, she's about seven years old (we have never celebrated her birthday), and this kid makes Veruca Salt look positively charming. Ironically, while she plays a very large role in my life, Mark and the kids have never even met her.
This little girl (sorry, I've never named her) is the one who is always driving me crazy when it comes to food; she simply cannot get enough. I don't know if it's attention she craves, or what, but whenever there is food (especially junkfood) in the near vicinity, she has to have it; even when I have just fed her! It's "I want this!" and "Give me that!" Bite of cake? She has to have a gigantic piece, plus a half a bag of chips or whatever else is around.
Oh sure, she'll eat healthy snacks, too, but they never seem to satisfy her. She always seems to be in the grocery store with me, too. Just today, she was all, "Let's get a couple of Snickers bars for Kyle and Kendall," but I know her game, the little sneak; it's "for the kids," but always mysteriously disappears in the car on the way home! One day, I bought a package of Chips Ahoy cookies for the family, and she had an entire sleeve gone before anyone even knew they were in the house! This child is out of control much of the time.
One day, it occurred to me, "Barb, you work all day with emotionally disturbed adolescents who beg, argue and refuse to cooperate, and yet you keep them in line. Why can't you apply those same skills and principles to the little brat living inside you?" That's when I decided that while nurturing her is important, it is even more important (for both of us) that I learn to discipline her.
So, I'm working on it. Whenever she whines, "Just one handful..please!! I promise I'll exercise with you later!!" I tell her, "That is enough! I told you no; now you need to stop." I'm trying to be more conscious of her presence whenever there is food around, and I'm trying to use positive reinforcement with her, too.
In the meantime, I'm trying to resist an urge to put her up for adoption. Yesterday, she grabbed ahold of the steering wheel and actually tried to direct the car over to Dairy Queen, instead of the gas station! This kid is a handful, let me tell you. If any of you have any parenting tips, I am seriously open...
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