Why do carbs and stress go hand n hand?

Ok. I thought I was handling stress alright...carb monster is poking his weary little monstrous head out. I have to tame the tiger for sure. I plan to slay him with exercise! TEENAGERS need I say more. When your kids get in trouble how long do you ground them? This week has been _ _ _ _~ DD never gets in trouble I don't want to overreact but don't want her to think the behavior is acceptable either. When I am stressed I have found myself snacking instead of eating. BAD BAD!~ Not getting in what I need and I know it. I took some extra vitamins today to help combat the stress.

After dropping her off at drivers ed this morning I walked until I couldn't walk anymore trying to get some stress out. It's not like she killed anybody. Someone was sending her inappropriate texts and she was responding. She isn't one that gets in trouble and she isn't starting now. I have taken her phone, computer, etc. away. We have also grounded her but don't know how long we should do it for. I am liking her not having a phone. She talks more now.  We have always been really close but I am her Mother and have to do what is best for her. There is a fine line between punishment and isolation. A friend of ours called and invited her to go to the beach this weekend. I told them I would have to talk to her Daddy. We have decided she needs to spend the weekend with us. My son has a ball tournament out of town and she can tag along with us.

I don't know what is harder to tame a teenager or the carb monster inside of me! I think they are feeding off of each other at the moment. ~

 I am working on my 5th teen ager.  I have 2 at home right now.  It is tough.  Fifteen is the worse age.  Thank God my daughter will be 16 on Thursday.  And she is a very good girl, just very spoiled and demanding.  My fault since she is my baby and by the time she came along I was just worn out.  Let her get away with more then I should as far as not doing chores and helping out.  Lazy as the day is long.
Anyway, while carbs taste good they really don't  make the problems go away.  You know that.  You are doing the right thing, using exercise as a way of dealing with stress.
Good luck to you.

awesome about slaying the tiger with exercise!!!  gonna remember that one!!!  hope it gets better for ya!

Fight that carb monster with all you have...Carb monster is the evil of all evils.  When I am stressed I have the same problem so trust me I know how hard it is.  As far as the teenager, i can not offer advice, mine is only 4!  Good luck, hope things settle down for you.

Sheri

"I have taken her phone, computer, etc. away."

That's a very appropriate punishment. She has shown she can't use these properly so now she can't use them at all. She'll learn a lot from that.

"We have also grounded her but don't know how long we should do it for."

Grounding, IME, punishes the whole family. So we only do it for as long as we think it will take to get everyone emotionally on a more even keel and also really drive home the punishment (i.e., long enough so they have time to think about what they did and analyze the situation that lead to the grounding).

Which means we generally do it for a weekend or a week at most. Any more than that and we all go mad.

Thanks for your insight. My Dh and I talked yesterday we decided that she needs to go with us to the ball tournament this weekend instead of going to the beach with her friend. I think she has already learned her lesson but I don't think she has really been grounded until she doesn't get to do something with her friends. Since this happened on a Sunday. She didn't miss out on weeekend activities. Not sure when I will give her the phone or the computer back yet. Guess time will tell. Thanks again for your insight.

That sounds great. I agree, there has to be something she misses for it to be effective.

The thing about the inappropriate texts is that this is really a safety issue and not a "you didn't follow the rules" issue. And it has implications for the future and your trust of her as she showed such bad judgement.

Which is exactly what I said when Mini-Mac went through something similar... what is it with girls wanting to be more grown-up than they are?!