lost
ok, its doubtful anyone is familiar with my last post quite some time ago so i'll briefly explain. i'm 27 married for 4 years or so 8 year old step daughter 1 year old bio daughter and pregnant with less then a month to go on yet another daughter. but i am here so my problem is with my step daughter. she hates me. this isnt some overly dramatic cry for help but true openly stated hatred. weird part i am ok with that i married her dad and changed how things were there and her real mom left long before me so it understandable that she can put the blame on me. her bio mom had a slew of phycological issues and myt step daughter sees a therapist who says she has an undefined personalty disorder which most likely bud into something worse in the teen year, like bi-polar.so i have backed off with thing to "parent" since anything i try to make her do, like homework or eat dinner, become something she feels she must fight. but now she has started acting worse at school and stealing at home only from me or from my young daughter. she tells me she steals from me because she hates me and i have "stolen" from her. the stealing i do she says is when she is refuses to clean her room so i eventually i have to do it and anything i cant find a place for i box up and put in the garage. anyway she sneaks into my room and takes makeup or other small things that cant be mistaken for anyone else and destroys them. takes them to the yard and filled them with dirt or breaks them if possible. then yesterday she stole my babys shampoo and did the same thing. my husband told me to ignore when she took my stuff that is wasnt that big of a deal and if we ignore it it might stop. you know if she doesnt get a reaction then she'll quit. and i think that is why she started taking from the baby, i can ignore her wronging my but not my baby. i did bring it up and she just tells me i deserve it and she hates me. at school she has always had social troubles but recently has escalated. she calls her teacher fat and stupid refuses to participate in school and has slapped pinched and tackled other student. we have tried working with her therapists, tried the schools plan of giving her more responsibility . as well as countless threats and bribes to just try to get her to act slightly more well behaved. hating school is normal hating your stepmom is normal. trying to physically cause them harm seems off. at least for an 8 year old who has been acting like this for years. btw her dad is here and does all her punishing so i dont have to, but her does work 3rd shift so sleeps most of the day and is gone all night.
so heres my question, what do i do? i am not organized enough to hide all my stuff all the time she is home and i cant follow her around at school. not allowed and hey i'm 9 months preg with a 1 year old. she is going to spend some time with her grandma after school is out, hoping that with "mellow" her. but until then how can i stop her from hurting people at school physically and emotionally, and stealing anything of mine not nailed down. just need some ideas... my mom her teachers and her therapist are all out of ideas...
Well this is going to sound
Well this is going to sound weird so hang in there with me...
I would have her clean out or repair anything she steaks that she has broken or gotten dirty. Like if she takes your shampoo bottle and fills it with dirt, when you find it say "oh honey, please don't use this bottle for playing outside, I need to for my shampoo, go wash it in the sink for me now". If she refuses then tell her you will have to use her shampoo until you get yours back. If she does this with your make up do the same thing, even though we know you won't be using it again, she might not realize it, and anyhow it's the lesson learned for her wrong actions. So this way you are giving her a consequence for ruining your stuff and not getting angry at her or threatening her, just telling her to not USE your things. It also takes the attention away from why she's really ruining your things.
Also I agree with locking, though I have found locking for our ss19 only made him go crazy and start breaking into stuff. It's best to teach proactively first and then if that doesn't work, then resort to locking.
I would find this similar to having an older child wash out their own under wear for pooping in them, like my mom did with my older brother It worked! He hated sticking his hands in toilet water
Good luck!
Put keyed dead bolt locks on
Put keyed dead bolt locks on your BR door and on your DD's BR door. Put up webcams everywhere. If she steals call the cops and let them deal with her. If DH wants to ignore the crap then let the police deal with it.
I would also default to immediate corporal punishment for this kind of crap. Good old fashioned bare assed, full swing paddle or belt stinging bright red cheek butt whoopin. If you live anywhere in the US with the exception of DE then it is perfectly legal to spank her butt.
Here is a link to a site that references the spanking laws in each state if you wish to look up yours.
http://kidjacked.com/legal/spanking_law.asp
All IMHO of course.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
thanks for all the comments
thanks for all the comments seems like i have to spend some money on some locks...... as for showing her that is wrong. she knows its wrong. we did teach her that and she likes to be considered bad. told us that she wants to be the bad kid at school and likes when people are afraid of her and doesnt care if she grows up and goes to prison cause she would be in charge there. so i dont think showing her the moral side of stealing would help. the same with hurting other kids at school thinks if she doesnt like something then hurt it. i asked her "does that mean if i dont like your behavior i should beat you" and she told me yes, i should. i wont just because 1 i'm not doing discipline for her these days and 2 i dont want to hit. she is very smart and just wants to make bad choices . has anyone ever turned around a kid that wanted to be bad. she has lots of reasons she has told us and i could list them but i'd rather not do all that typing. the only thing she wants her only goal is to not live with us anymore, and she is getting it so to speak since when school is out she is going to spend the summer with her grandma in another state. so the only answers i'm seeing are lock up my house and wait til she leaves, cause i dont see a way to change how she views the world.