Maybe we have some work to do

For those of you that don't know, Linda was diagnosed with Childhood Bipolar Disorder. We have a family social worker that is helping us aligning treatment for her (just in case there was any confusion, this is a voluntary thing that we signed up for). Linda sees a psychiatrist, a psychologist, attends special education, and is in group socializing sessions at school. She has also been accepted into Freedom Riders which is a group that uses horses and riding for attachment therapy. Another new feature in our life is the presence of two social workers/counselors who come to our house for family coaching. They are an older man and woman who are here to help us learn how to best parent Linda, be a support system for her siblings, and teach Linda how to be a productive and happy member of our family. This should give you an idea on how bad things had gotten with her behaviors. The social workers have been to the house a couple of times now. It is kind of a rude awakening because they are there when she gets home, and if she didn't bring her homework, or has a note from her teacher, they call her out on it. She has kind of gotten used to getting special attention, and has kind of come to expect to be babied. Being held accountable is kind of new for her. Anyways, the whole point of this post is to tell you about this last session. Even though they are non-judgmental, you are still letting strangers into a very personal part of your life and it is hard not to be nervous. This last time they were asking Linda about her chores. They asked her what her least favorite chore was and she said " cleaning the poop out of the litter box". Bear in mind that she has never once done this. A little while later, Noah asked the worker if she would read to him, and then threw the book and hit her in the chest. Last, but not least, when the worker told Mina she was a beautiful little girl, Mina replied "Yeah...I know." Apparently I need to add, teach one kid not to lie, one kid not to throw, and one kid to be humble on my long, long list of parenting things to work on. Sigh.