My daughter will be 12 this month. She's in the midst of puberty, and we're all having a hard time with it. Her dad especially.
See, when he left to do a year in Greenland last summer, he left behind a pleasant girl who, even though she was showing some physical signs of maturity, was for the most part good-natured and sociable.
He came back to a pimply faced, 'A' cup wearing, armpit shaving, growling monster of a child who will bare her teeth and snarl when asked what she wants for breakfast and who runs from the room crying if one of us looks at her the wrong way.
Case in point: this morning Dave asked her if she wanted a grilled cheese sandwhich for lunch. She said she didn't care. Dave asked if that meant she wanted one, or if she didn't want one.
She said "I told you I didn't care, are you deaf? What more do you want from me? I said I DIDN'T CARE!!!!" ...and she ran off down the hallway to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her. She's been there ever since....that's 4 hours ago.
Poor Dave was left standing in the kitchen, a slice of half-buttered bread in his hand, with a look of both bewliderment and anger on his face.
"What the fuck is her problem?"
"Hormones" was my response.
"Nah, it's not!!!"
"Umm, yes it is. Have you looked at her recently? She's grown boo..."
"LA LA LA LA LA NOT LISTENING!!!!!"
(That's the standard response whenever the subject of girls and aging comes up, in case you were wondering)
So, she's been in her room ever since - hasn't even come out to eat. Dave's in denial that his little girl is growing up, and I'm about at my wit's end with her. Occasionally I get a glimpse of the girl that she used to be....and a glimpse of the young woman she will become.....but for the most part she's sullen, spotty and short fused.
*sigh*...I honestly don't remember being this bad. I really, really don't. I apologized to my mother a couple of times already, but I think another call might be in order.
Perhaps she'll do the same to me when she has kids of her own.