Dr. Laura:
I have two teenaged boys (ages 18 and 15), and so far their teen years have been something of a breeze. However, I can already see that things probably won't go nearly as smoothly with my daughter, who is now 10. Where my boys are level-headed and introverted, my daughter is a social butterfly and has always loved to be the center of attention. Drama is just a way of life with her, although I am trying to teach lessons that will allow that passion to work for her, instead of against her. She is homeschooled, so I am constantly on the lookout for teaching moments.
This morning, for example, she woke up in a very cheerful mood - this is typical of her, as she's definitely a morning person. She decided that today was going to be fantastic, and she wanted to make breakfast for me. She is learning how to cook, and recently learned to make Poached Eggs on Toast, which is my favorite breakfast meal.
Things didn't go as well as she'd hoped. The eggs stuck to the egg cooker, the sauce turned out a bit lumpy, and the toast was cold by the time everything else was ready. She was inconsolable, and proclaimed between sobs that her entire day was completely ruined.
Thanks to you, Dr. Laura, I had the perfect answer for her. I explained I would be upset too, if something I was so excited about didn't go exactly right! However, it was only 10:35am, and it wasn't right to let that ruin the entire day. I told her she had until 10:45 - 10 more minutes - to cry and feel sad that her breakfast wasn't quite the way she wanted it, but then she'd need to take a deep breath and make a decision that the rest of her day was going to be filled with a good attitude.
Four minutes later, she returned with a smile, saying she was done being sad, and it was time to do something fun. We high-fived, I told her that I was proud of her because she changed her attitude even before her sad time was over, and we got ready to face the rest of the day.
Thank you so much for giving me the tools I need to help her to become a better person. I don't think I would have nearly the insight into what she needs in order to have a productive life without the lessons I've learned from listening to your show over the years.
Thank you from a truly grateful mommy!
Jennifer
