After a pleasant couple of months with the girls (we won’t discuss the teen today) – things are going downhill at a rapid pace.

Molly is starting to fall behind in school.  Her comprehension of lessons she used to excel at is slipping, her grades are following suit.  I have no idea on her behaviors in school because we missed Parent Teacher conferences in the wake chaos around the teen’s hospital stay.  I’ve contacted her teacher in hopes that we can develop new ways to tackle this and keep her going. She’s so smart, I don’t want her to lose that edge.

Kennedy.

Oh, Kennedy.

Her anger has always been an issue.  While we’ve been seeing a massive resurgence of her anger – another threat has been lurking, ready to pounce on us out of nowhere.

Lying. Stealing. Manipulation.

I always knew she was a good liar.  I kept an extra eye on her when I could.

I don’t know if it’s the recent stresses on the family, or just being in full time school, me going back to work, or  just testing limits.

But it’s blown out of proportion.

Over the past two weeks we’ve caught her in two lies, the latest involving stealing. Then lying to me three times about it.

We’re calling the counselor.

She’s having recess revoked as punishment.

Now I just have to figure out how to punish her here at home.

Threats of Santa not coming have no effect.

How do I get through to this one?

What punishment would you suggest? She shares a room with her sister, and some punishments would affect both of them, which isn’t fair to her sister.  So keep that in mind.