She was never into the whole boy thing, and I don’t think she’s experimenting with drugs or anything like that. Her real problem is stealing.
She’s my little kleptomaniac, but damned if I don’t love her with all of my heart. From the moment she was born, she was my pride and joy. Never someone I could really say no to.
However, with this new phase she’s going through, I find the two of us arguing more than we ever have in my life.
I’m not just gonna stand around and let her take money from her mother’s purse, nor am I going to allow her to run off with the car in the middle of the night without so much as asking us.
It’s gotten pretty vicious. I hate it. I hate it more than I’ve ever hated anything.
It’s one of those things where the anger doesn’t really stem from her, personally. It’s just so hard to see her like this. That’s what makes it frustrating. I just want my little girl back, you know?
Recently, I had to really put my foot down, though. My wife and I had made the mistake of allowing her to run some errands for the two of us. All we needed was groceries. It was like an exercise. My daughter wanted to feel like we trusted her, and we wanted to find that middle ground where she could get what she wanted without us having to worry that she’d just say ‘fuck you’ and do whatever she wanted.
It took some convincing, but finally, my wife and I caved. We let her use the car, sent her some money, and let her go out on her own to pick up the groceries.
We thought that everything was fine when she returned with a receipt and our food, that precious smile of hers painted across her face.
Unfortunately for her, she’d forgotten to retrieve some of her contraband from our grocery bags.
We ended up finding headphones, CD’s, makeup, and a whole lot of other stuff that I doubt she even needed.
Of course, I couldn’t let that fly. She was still my little girl, though, so my punishment, IN MY OPINION, was light. Grounded for 2 weeks, no electronics for one, and no use of the car until we saw fit.
That’s nothing, right? Simple, authoritative, and effective.
Unfortunately, my daughter did not see it as such. For the entire two weeks, her mom and I received nothing but cold shoulders and glances. Barely any words spoken. And what felt like a million sighs.
Typical teenage behavior. At least, that’s what I believed.
At the end of her two weeks, I was almost excited to lift her punishment. For things to go back to normal so that I could at least get a hug.
However, on that morning, I was absolutely dumbfounded to find that my laptop was missing. Not only that, but my phone had gone missing as well.
I searched the house for about an hour before my wife finally got the idea to call my cell.
To my complete lack of surprise, we heard ringing come from my daughter’s room.
As I walked into the room, I found her hurrying to silence the device, but she had been caught, and she knew it.
I let her know just how disappointed I was and informed her that this would add on to her punishment before sending her out to the bus stop for school.
She seemed… weirdly possessive of MY belongings.
I didn’t think too much of it at the time, and as the morning went on and I got ready for work, I stuffed my laptop in my bag and headed out the door.
Once I arrived at the office, I found exactly why she had been so possessive.
There must have been 20 tabs open on the screen, each one being basically staged evidence of me looking up body disposal methods and questions about how to make murders look like accidents.
As I stared at the computer screen in utter shock, my phone began to ring.
I picked up, stuttering like a baby, and was greeted by my daughter’s school counselor.
She informed me that my daughter was in her office, crying hysterically, and firmly let me know that a meeting needed to happen ASAP.
I let them know I’d be there as soon as I could and hung up the phone.
Placing my hands on my face, I sighed and mumbled to myself.
“I can’t believe she’s doing this again.”
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