The Old Ballgame

Turns out Dash has been holding a few to many irritations on one particular situation for far to long.

You see the Ladybug (daughter) and I come as a package and given the fact that for the majority of her life I have been the sole consistency in her life she defers to me for every decision. It had been this way for the first 7 years of her life, enter Dash. Add 2 years before he or I want him to take any responsibility for raising her and that's 9 years. It is incredibly difficult for her or I to remember to keep him in the loop when rules are made or changed.

Strike 1 ~ Dash is a mushroom, keep him in the dark and feed him shit!

The last 6 months Dash and I have been mentally and physically drained and so have let all of the rules slide where she was concerned. She went away for the summer and everyone she came in contact with gave her way to much (whether she asked for it or not). So her attitude and expectation decline to almost bratty where matereialism is concerned.

Strike 2 ~ Inconsistency = mayhem!

During all of this I have sort of been overriding Dash in front of her because I was to tired and didn't want to listen to them quibble. He has a bit of a tenancy to argue with her it sort of boils down to the equivalent of . . .

"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not"

. . . bickering! It's hard to sit back and watch him learn how to discipline her when you can see the train wreck coming.

Strike 3 ~ Dash's authority is removed!

On top of that he had gotten it in his head that he had to agree with my every opinion or I was angry. I enjoy our differences and debating. It is important to me for us to work towards compromise and communication and that the rules are not driven by only one person!

More later he is awake . . .