When the trust is gone....

Oh what a day we had yesterday. Things were pretty hectic to say the least....I picked the children up from school yesterday and on the car ride home my step-daughter divulged the drama of the days events. Our friend's son had been being picked on at school as was telling everyone he had money which in turn led to the kids wanting to beat him up and take it. When I got home I decided to call our friend and let him know what was going on. As the night drew nearer and my friend and I continued talking about it, it came to light that my step-daughter was the one who told everyone and that she had lied about the whole situation. Now, I say to her, why in God's name would you not only lie about something like that but voluntarily tell me the lie knowing I was going to tell the child's father. She has no idea? Eventually, she has led herself to believe that I misunderstood her and that she never even told me the things she had said. I tried to explain that when you lie so much you forget what you said. Well, we got no where pretty quickly and to be honest I give up sometimes because I know that when her father gets home he will make every excuse for her. Instead of saying, my kid is wrong and deal with it. He always makes excuses for her and I believe it kinda has something to do with why she is the way she is. Sure she has great grades but there is so much more to life. She is going to have a very hard time when she gets in the real world and he isn't there everyday to give her excuses. Oh well, drama for the day over and the end result will be to have her apologize to both the boy and the father.

I am wondering if this is why she has "no friends" in school. I know she has a few but it seems that she is always having a problem with someone. I know that she doesn't realize the things that she tells me I use to draw conclusions on the problems that she has. Such as, her best-friend and her aren't such best-friends anymore. The girl doesn't like to hang out with her and I believe it is because my step-daughter tries so hard to get attention that it drives people crazy. She is constantly "flirting" with her friend's boyfriend. I know she doesn't realize it but mixing his food together at lunch, poking, throwing things at him, etc... all the things that kids do to flirt and I'm sure her friend doesn't like it. She is also always hitting all the boys and being mean to them (stuff we used to do in elementary school, not middle school). I don't know how much more attention we can give the child to make her feel loved. Her dad and I are constantly praising her, I always help with her homework and projects, she spends quality alone time with her dad on weekends.

Would I feel the same way if it were my child? Would I make excuses as well? Would I say it's just a kid being a kid? I don't think I would. Well, a few more days and then I get a break for a week.....sometimes I enjoy it!