Unpleasant Reunion

From Tuesday night until Friday evening, Danielle had been staying with Ms. Teacher's niece. It worked out that it was more convenient for the girl's mother to drop Danielle off at Ms. Teacher's house, so after we went out for fish and chips (which Danielle hates) we dropped by to pick her up.

We found Danielle, sitting at Ms. Teacher's kitchen table, munching on a hamburger. She didn't even look up when we arrived.

We visited with Ms. Teacher for a while, and during the visit, Danielle kept making scoffing sounds and rolling her eyes.

Eventually, after a few minutes of Danielle slowly and angrily munching her burger, she suddenly brightened. "Did you miss me?" she asked.

I refused to answer the question. I said nothing. Danielle had just treated us to a good 15 minutes of snottiness, and I didn't have very much nice to say.

"You are mean!" Danielle accused.

Finally, FosterEema asked her, "If we had been treating you the way you have been behaving the past few weeks, would you have missed us?"

"Well yeah," Danielle scoffed.

I said nothing. We continued our visit with Ms. Teacher, and Danielle continued to interject snotty remarks. We told Ms. Teacher about my niece's explosion and her justification for her behavior, but didn't explain what Danielle had done to be grounded. Ms. Teacher was shocked and told us how sorry she was.

In the meantime, Danielle kept trying to make rude little remarks, in between trying to get hugs from me and trying to sit in my lap. I have her a half-hug, and I did let her sit in my lap for a moment, but the chair I was using wasn't comfortable enough for the both of us, and Danielle finally gave up.

Danielle kept making snide remarks, so finally I told her, "I don't like it when you speak to me in this way. Would you like me to tell Ms. Teacher what you did to get in trouble?"

Danielle made a few more scoffing remarks, but shut up soon after.

Ms. Teacher looked very concerned.

"Trust me," I told her, "it was bad."

Ms. Teacher gave us a tour of her garden, and all the while Danielle kept mooching for hugs and asking if we missed her. I gave her half hugs, and tried my best not to completely push her away. She alternated between being sweet and telling us that she missed us and loved us, and being completely rude and snotty.

I did give her a hug and a kiss on top of her head, but when she said she loved me, I said nothing. I responded by giving her a kiss on top of her head. I was too annoyed to say anything else.

When Danielle asked for what was probably the tenth time if we missed her, FosterEema replied, "I missed the Danielle who is helpful, sweet and cooperative. I missed the Danielle who doesn't argue, or call us names. I didn't miss the Danielle who does all mean things you have been doing for the past few weeks."

Eventually, we headed home, and Danielle continued being a snot for most of the evening. She groused about having to go to bed and having to help out with the evening chores. It was a relief to go to bed just to be rid of her.

This morning, I woke her up just a little past 8:00 AM. I'd warned her last night that since we are planning a July 4th party, we were going to have to do some chores around the house. The list of all that needs to be done is quite long, but I gave her only three chores: 1) thoroughly clean her bathroom, 2) clean the bird cages, and 3) vacuum the living room, dining room and hall. I wrote the list on a sheet of paper, and handed it to her.

"This is what I expect you to do this morning, please." I said as I handed it to her.

Danielle began ranting and raving about how unfair it was that she had to help out, since it was our party, (people she likes are coming, too), that she'd just cleaned her bathroom (several days ago) and she wasn't going to do any of it.

"I can understand why you might feel that way," I told her, "but I won't let you go to the fireworks display with your friends if your chores aren't done."

Danielle continued to rant and rave. I did my best to ignore her and say as little as possible. When I said anything at all, I just repeated what I had said previously. "I can understand why you might feel that way, nevertheless, I won't let you go to the fireworks if your chores aren't finished."

Eventually, after at least a good 30 minutes of fussing, Danielle settled in and did her chores with no further complaint.

Although things are peaceful now, I wish we had somewhere else to send her.