I am afraid...

that I am raising two little brats. Does anyone else feel like that?

Of course, I try to teach them right from wrong. I try to teach them not to hit each other, not to be mean to each other, to have respect for other people, their things, and their feelings. But what if I'm not doing good enough?

Lately, and I'm not sure how much of it has to do with our moving, Abby has been acting out. Yesterday I told her to go and stand in the corner because she didn't do something I'd asked. She refused. I got up to give her a quick swat on the behind, at which point she dropped to the floor and started kicking me.

Ok, at this point I admit I completely lost my cool. I first removed her shoes. Brand new shoes that we'd bought the day before at Target and that she is absolutely in love with. I put them in the top of my closet because they became the object of her anger when I took them off. She was in the floor having an all out FIT, so I took her outside. (This is something I've done before, and it has immediately calmed her down. At our house in Del Rio, I would stand her outside the back door in our fenced yard, and close the door. When she was done screaming we would talk.) Well, I took her outside, but she screamed like someone was beating her, banged on the door, etc....until I was afraid that someone would call the cops. I brought her inside and put her on her bed.

It took quite a while for her to calm down, and she stayed in her bed most of the day and was not allowed to play with her toys. I didn't know what to do, and I still don't.

I did make up new chore and behavior charts that are on a point/demerit system. Starting tonight we will count up how many stars or stickers each child has earned and they will earn coins (I haven't decided what denomination to start with) for each. Then, we will count up the number of demerits (red x's) and take away one earned coin for each of those. I am hoping that by seeing how her negative behavior will affect her earnings that she'll work to earn more, and lose less.

I just finished reading "Have a New Kid by Friday" and I want to implement that in our house. However, I'm afraid that her behavior recently is too far past what I learned in that book for it to help right now. I want to have good children, and I believe they ARE good children. I just need to learn how to make THAT part of them the more dominant part. Also, how are we as parents supposed to know when something else is bothering a child? Like, what if she's really upset over the move and not having her friends? What do I do? How do I know what to do?

Man, I wish there was an instruction book.