Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Other subjects

Call me a bitch mother but

72 replies

ggglimpopo · 27/04/2006 19:02

I have just told my dd1 that she should pack her bags and either I will get ss to come and get her or she can go live with her father. And she can take dd2 (who bunked school yet again today) that she can go with. And I mean it. I have had enough.

OP posts:
ggglimpopo · 28/04/2006 18:11

What would have helped sm1? She simply will not talk to me, not as though I was human, anyway.

OP posts:
studentmum1 · 28/04/2006 18:25

At the time i just wanted my mum to back off and leave me alone to get on with what i wanted to do. but there were times when i wanted to talk to her, just explain everything. its tricky coz looking back at how i was, i was up one minute and down the next! I didn't speak to my dad for years, but since my daughter arrived its brought the family together as a unit, almost a shared 'hobby' ha ha

I think to take the time to listen to what your daughter wants or needs, without either of you getting upset or angry. in a relaxed atmosphere would do the world of good. you both need to understand each other. She needs to realise that your sole purpose is not just to be her mum but that you are a person in your own right and you too have feelings. if shes anything like i was, i felt like the whole world was against me and no one wanted to stop listen and try to help!

quanglewangle · 28/04/2006 20:38

Now I am not being flippant here, not very anyway, but I think I am turning into a teenager again. I care for my ancient mother and in her (very) old age she has turned into a worrier and comments on evrything I do - telling me I am late, should I be driving after dark, should I be letting my ds's do this that and the other.... [scream]
So I just feel like telling her to get of my case and I am beginning to realise that is how my sons must feel. Maybe teenagers are just normal people who want to be left alone.
Not sure how that is going to help, but it does make me think that studentmum is right.

quanglewangle · 28/04/2006 20:43

And whats more, I have even become moody and sullen. Shock

seriouslystressedspacecadet · 28/04/2006 20:49

gg-if i had a pound for everytime ive threatened to chuck dd1 out or phone ss id be a bloody millionaire by now, that girl has aged me prematurely, she storms out of the house late at night if we have an argument and she is very manipulative. her fave trick is to storm out then go to a friends house and claim i threw her out!!!
her friends mother wont speak to me anymore as she thinks im mean to dd!!!
every night before i go to bed, i tell both dd and ds sternly, i have x amount of money in my purse so dont even think about it, as ds has taken money before.
dd takes whatever she fancies out of my room so i have started to return the favour, whats good for the goose and all that.
with regards to the money, i would phone the police if she did it again, short sharp shock might do her good.

HappyMumof2 · 28/04/2006 20:50

I was really horrible to my parents too. I was a nasty teenager Blush I think back and am ashamed at how I treated them from around the age of 14-18.

I don't really have any advice, other than you and she will come through it. I have a brilliant relationship with my parents now. I'm really close to my mum,talk to her every day and see her twice a week.

I can imagine that you really, really don't like her at all atm, but I look back and feel I really didn't know what I was doing half the time, it's as though peer pressure/relationships/hormones etc takes over you for a while.......

seriouslystressedspacecadet · 28/04/2006 20:51

gg-i stop dd's allowance when she is really troublesome and doesnt do her jobs.

busybusybee · 28/04/2006 21:09

Oh my how I dread the stroppy teenager phase

GGG I hope you and your daughter work things out soon

Reading Anoraks thread about her dd had me in tears - Anyone know how Anorak is today? And her dd?

ElizabethPurley · 28/04/2006 21:21

\link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861973411/qid=1146255583/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-2004178-2111011\I'm reading this} which says they're basically like toddlers (as someone already posted) and that it's all about attention/separation and very hard for them etc etc. Which I'm sure isn't much comfort but there are tactics to try, like threatening to talk to your teenager's friends in your underwear unless they do xyz. It sounds vile, I'm not looking forward to this stage at all.

ggglimpopo · 28/04/2006 21:27

Dd1 and Dd2 never came down for dinner - they are having witches coven in dd1s bedroom; plotting..... and guess what? I have had enough wine with my moules frites not to give a flying.

Kids, huh?

OP posts:
JanH · 28/04/2006 21:35

gggl, leave it, it's not worth it!

(Honestly!)

My DDs reduced me to impotent fury and tears when they were 16 and it didn't make any diff in the long run. Yours do quite an astonishing amount to help out for their age, really. Let them plot. Let them grow up and grow out of it. Smile sweetly and when things are cool, let them know you do still love them.

(And say hi from all of us! Smile)

sallystrawberry · 28/04/2006 21:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

busybusybee · 28/04/2006 21:41

Do you think maybe at least some of the grief is deliberate to wind you up cos she can see the reaction she gets?

She can obviously tell she is bugging you! If you stay cool and ignore it maybe just maybe she might get bored and start craving your attention

Well maybe at least a little bit :o

babaworshipper · 28/04/2006 21:49

having been a hideous teenager I have been trying to work out what if anything would have helped.

I think a bit more give and take instead of random rules in my case you must be in by 11pm when to go to cinema see the end of the film and get home was 11.15, caused loads of arguments that one. Doing a bit more blind eye to the make up and clothes would have helped, I wan't actually hurting anyone and it would have lessened the conflict. I don't think we had a conversation for years with it turning into a fight and door slamming exercise. I also did the stuff rifling no idea why now, I owuld agree with getting a lock on your door to stop it.

My mu made it utterly impossible for me to have any normal teenage life so I just lied all the time and it became a habit. (never stole from her though)

Quite frankly I think in my case a whacking dose of progesterone would have helped to even me out, I had 3 week cycles with in retrospect psycho pmt for well most of it I think! I went on depo after I left home and it was like being a diff person.

My mum and I just got to hostile for words and eventually we communicated through my dad who oddly for a dad was more realisitc about it, i.e. smoking, sex , drink. didn't help their relationship much though! Famous quotes from my dad "whne I was a teenager I liked to smoke, drink and screw for all you are a girl I can't expect you to be any different, phone if you won't be home and tell me honestly where you are and make sure you use a condom."

more gems" so you say you smoke about 5 fags a day, well tha's prob 10 and loads more on a night out"

on leaving the house" open your purse, what for? So I know you have a condom?"

I could be honest with my dad although initially horrified (!) and I suspect under his jovial front he was dying!

The sneering and guffawing is a front, she is probably totally embarresed about her appearance regardless of how pretty she may be. Nothing worse than anyone commenting on your appearance as a teen instant back up and on the defensive, image is all at that age.

Not sure if any of this will help.... but you have my sympathy!

ggglimpopo · 28/04/2006 21:50

Yes, you are right. I will just let it lie. I had a sudden thought of "Virgin Suicides" and all those floaty blonde teenagers doing non porte quoi, but then I remembered that this was real life and my daughters are sticking pins into a voodoo doll and discussing tactics, rather than dressing in white nighties and doing terrible things. Dh guffawed when I told him I was worried.

You worry about them like hell when they are little, you nurture and protect and do the tigress when provoked, and then 10n years later you start dreaming about what at the time seemed so hard....

OP posts:
busybusybee · 28/04/2006 21:54

ggg Are they really sticking pins in a doll- to represent you! How delightful Shock

Dont assume their horrid behaviour is all your fault though - So many other pressures etc.

At least some of it you can blame on her Dad lol!

galaxy · 28/04/2006 22:01

I was a pretty grotty teenager to my mum but not to this degree . No real just sympathies that you're going through this. My sis has similar issues with her almost 15 year old dd at the moment. She ruined a family holiday over Easter, escapes when she's grounded and damages the house when she can't get her own way. He bf just turned 17 and he's Mr Calm and sis was hoping that she would take a leaf form his book but it seems not.

Good luck with it - hopefully it's a phase and will pass quickly

Tamz77 · 28/04/2006 22:11

Clothes and make-up = mostly attention seeking. I had piercings, tattoos, the works, and all my daft mother could say was, "oh, that's quite nice." She wants a rise from you re her bodily decorations; if you can, ignore it. It might make it annoying to look at her but make-up and clothes don't cause any direct harm. Let her express herself in the small ways, she might be easier to deal with in others.

Stealing from you = testing boundaries. There could be a bit of peer pressure here, if she wins points by meeting up with mates and being able to say "I nicked this off Mum, I can buy us all fags and booze tonight." I never stole but my brother did; my mum a) got a lock on her door, and used it (would hate to have to do this personally, but never say never), and b) when things got v.bad, got the police over to have a quiet word with him. (You might think this worked but it didn't; last year when she was on holiday he did some serious thieving, she had him arrested and chucked him out. Things are sorted out now, however).

I have never raised teenagers so don't know what my advice is worth, but vividly remember being one and the troubles I had. Once went 18 months without talking to my mother. Whatever you do, keep the lines of communication open. If she feels she can't talk to you or only speaks through nasty notes, it doesn't bode well for resolving things. Secondly, give her a break for her hormones, and for how stupid she'll feel in ten years time when she looks back on what a mentalist she was (like me...paying hundreds of pounds for painful laser treatment on my awful tattoos Blush). I know that's the last thing you probably feel like doing but take the long view, in your calmer moments:she's not going be a thirty year-old goth/tart/petty thieving cow, is she?!

Is it past the point of sitting down and thrashing out some compromises? If she really doesn't want to go to Paris, make a deal: if she goes and behaves impeccably, she can have a treat when she gets back - maybe a party or a gig? Don't ever tell her you don't want her because that's the type of thing teenagers stick on, when they're down and wallowing in angst the worst really comes to the worse when they think to themselves "even my mum doesn't love me." (They will say this anyway but don't give them a reason to believe it!). Tell her you love her even when it almost makes you sick to say it.

My brother's serious behavioural problems as a teen stemmed largely from my mother's indifference, so whatever you do or think, your concern is good, and she will appreciate it one day. At 14 I was spending nights alone on Leicester Square getting propositioned by Arabs, and my brother would disappear for a weekend without anyone even noticing he was gone. Those are the things that really hurt. I wish my mum had cared enough to scream!

HTH

Tamz77 · 28/04/2006 22:14

PS If she's stealing then money is obviously a big deal to her. You could try stopping her allowance entirely for a month whenever your purse is touched? To show you won't tolerate theft? Re going through your stuff: one day while she's out why don't you go and rifle through her room? Then give her a very calm and measured "see, you don't like it, do you" kind of talk when she realises.

Just a couple of ideas. I'm OK, I've got a ds and you've all said he's going to be a relative pushover when he hits puberty! I will quote you all!

galaxy · 28/04/2006 22:16

JUst remembered I got my boyfriend to pierce my ears 3 times in each when I was 14 and did it in my mum's kitchen with a hot needle - she was in the next room and only found out when I screamed in pain Blush

Alos got totally drunk at 15 and was buying cigarettes (although never actually inhaled one). Bunked off school loads and was basically a pain in the arse. Can't remember when I snapped out of it - think it was when I was about to leave home at 18!

studentmum1 · 28/04/2006 22:31

what won't help is if for every thing she does wrong, she gets another punishment. try giving her a clean slate and give her the chance to prove herself. my mum tryed the whole grounding thing, and stopping my allowance but they just got me more angry and more abusive and more likely to rebel!

at the moment she probably can't see past all this, at that age everything is clouded over and when things go wrong, it feels like evrythings going wrong and lifes not worth living... hence mood swings and tantrums!

Rhubarb · 29/04/2006 17:16

ggg, have you seen \link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=692&threadid=168650&stamp=060429153055\this} thread?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread