The topic(s):
- Why, dear, dear, Danae, have you been lying about staying for tutorial?
- And where oh where have you been going after school?
- And with whom and for what purpose........ for the past two weeks?
- And for GodAllahBuddha's sake, why would you do that to us knowing that we have to drag the babies out and across town to pick you up?
- And, why would you NOT take the bus home today, after clearly being told to, and then lie about how you got home?
To the casual reader, dinner and shopping might seem like a callous response to a possible runaway-missing persons type situation involving one's own child. However, I have some experience in these matters and realize that getting all wound up does nothing but give me a headache and turn my face red. Plus, I have two other adopted kids who have run away for a combined total of six times, and, as a Homo Sapiens Sapiens, I can be taught. Eventually.
So Danae finally called my cell from the house phone at 6:28 and tried to convince me that she had indeed ridden the bus home. Her bus arrives in our neighborhood between 4:55 and 5:10. I told her to reconsider her story and go with the truth, as she would be in less trouble in the long run. (Sidebar, your honor: I never believed that argument from my mom when I was a teen, so I'm not sure why I keep trying to convince my kids of its veracity, but that's a whole other blog I guess, sometime when I have no fodder... Things We Do Because Our Parents Did Them. Remind me to write that....)
Anyway, birdwalk. Back to subject.
It comes to this: I have irrefutable truth and proof on my side. She has "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
But then she realized (because she is much smarter than the average teenager) that I must have something on her, because then she said, "I did ride the bus home. I just got off at an earlier stop, called Amanda to pick me and bring me the rest of the way because I didn't want to get home so late. But then, Amanda couldn't come right away, so I was late."
Not once in this fiasco did she call me to let me know she was okay. I had other sources tell me they knew she was alive, but that they didn't know where. But she did call and text Amy, and only Amy--definitely not me. I'm pretty sure that's because she knew she was going to get in trouble, so she might as well avoid hearing it on the phone.
Now, ask me if I believe that story.
Seriously. Do I look THAT stupid? Of course I don't believe her. I think she didn't want to ride the bus, DID want to hang out with friends, so she did what she wanted. And as I thought, the epiphany hit...
It's something that I should have known or at least figured out WAY sooner. Kids with attachment disorders, also known as Reactive Attachment Disorder, don't trust. They don't believe in parental benevolence in any form, and don't for a second think that you have their best interests at heart. And trying to convince any of them to trust is almost like asking Boppo the Chimp to reproduce Mona Lisa. Messy and impossible. And while not a total waste of time, but definitely not the best way to spend an afternoon, or year or a decade.
So why would I ask that of a young lady who is at the point in her life where she is trying to prove her independence and pull away from her family? Duh. Now who's got issues?
I'm asking her to bond and pull closer when biology and society are telling her to pull away. Or she could just have doubled up on her daily dose of Pain in the Ass Pills and decided to see if she could pull off another lie.
No wonder we argue so much.
In the meantime, she wants to know if she can go spend the night with a friend and have her phone back.
Attachment disorder or not, I'm thinking no.
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