Sleep

Yesterday I went on Emma's class field trip to the zoo. It was cold and exhausting. Emma was so tired yesterday evening she was just laying around on the couch. We have had several late nights and they are catching up with her. Last night she would NOT go to sleep. We aren't giving her the Melatonin all of the time since it's use is somewhat controversial. I only give it to her when I foresee there being problems with her going to sleep. I did not see it last night. We got the kids to bed at 7pm and she was still awake at 9:30, wanting to pack her backpack for the next day. I knew this morning was going to be rough. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't as smooth as it could have been either. I was scheduled to work today at Corpus Christi in the lunchroom and after her lunch period, I was on recess duty with another teacher. Before I had even made it out the door, Emma came back inside the school asking me if she could stay inside for recess. I told her that she needed to go outside. She said she was too cold. It was chilly, but it wasn't THAT cold out! If she could handle the cold and wind we had at the zoo yesterday, then today should have been a breeze. She was upset that I made her go back outside, so she stood around pouting. I told her that she would be warmer if she would not stand in the shade and then she went and sat on the end of the slide. She said it was warm there. Well, there were kids who wanted to play on the slide, so she was getting mad at them for running into her. I told her several times she needed to get up and she WOULD NOT listen to me. I know what I would do at home under those circumstances, but I wasn't sure how to handle it at school. She was getting upset with the other kids because one accidentally pulled her hair when she was laying down on the slide and he ran into her. Once again I tried to get her to move, and told her I was going to go inside and get her teacher. The gal on recess duty with me wasn't helping me much and said she would let me deal with it. That was the problem! She wouldn't have done that with the other lady. Anyway, to make a long story short, Emma ended up throwing wood chips at the little girl coming down the slide and they hit her right in the face and that was the last straw. I grabbed her arm and made her sit along the fence until recess was over. UGH!
Today was our last official Daisy Scout meeting for the year. I knew it wasn't going to be much fun. Usually they aren't, because Emma is always misbehaving. She's the worst behaved one of the bunch, because I am the leader. We talked about her behavior on our way to the park, which is where we held the meeting. I had her repeat what I said so she couldn't plead ignorance when she started acting up. I told her that if she didn't listen, then she was going to sit out of the meeting in time out the remainder of the time. Well, she did end her last meeting in timeout. She found a mud puddle and was splattering mud everywhere with a pine bough and she accidentally splattered mud on a few of the other girls, AND herself. She wouldn't listen and she ended up in time out, just like I told her she would if she misbehaved. I am SO FRUSTRATED I don't even know what to do. I know what the solution is...................to stop being her leader, or to take her out of Girl Scouts all together. We talked about it some while I had her in the bathtub washing all of the mud off of her. She said all concerned, "Who will be the leader if you aren't?" I explained to her that since my co-leader is quitting, that there wouldn't be a leader and she might not get to be in Girl Scouts, or they would find someone else to do the job. She wasn't sure she wants that to happen, but she can't seem to remember to behave at ANY of the meetings. We had this problem with her when we were teaching her Sunday School class and we have this problem with Gage when we are teaching or coaching his group as well. I'm not sure what we're going to do about this, but something has to change.