Tweenie is now a Teenie!!!

I have a teenager in the house folks. 13 was a much anticipated happy, happy milestone for tweenie! Who now I must refer to as Teenie. Or maybe something more clever and telling? Maybe tween-dult. She thinks she is an adult around here. Which is what leads to most of our issues. She tries to take charge of everything around here like she's the parent. And it is driving me completely bonkers!!!

I suppose I have let the situation go on for too long. I'm not that take charge kind of person, so a lot of times I just sit back and let her go and only say something when she goes too far. But it's irritating. And frustrating.

She's been really awful at the dinner table. Constantly nagging Little Man to eat. His dinner eating antics are almost out of control. And the big thing is that she insists on doing the whole nagging thing while the husband and I are sitting right there. The thing is - one day last week she had some event which kept her from eating dinner with the family. Little Man ate like an angel.

Since then, the husband and I have told her that WE are the parents and that it is our job to reprimand him if necessary. And that she's to mind her own business and tend to her own eating at the table.

We've had to remind her every single night. And she has complete attitude about it! But seriously, it's not her business. She's one of the kids!! She needs to understand her place and understand that her authority has limits and boundaries. And that she has NO authority when dad and I are in the room. She usually "watches" the little ones while I make dinner, but even then she takes what little authority she has to the extreme. And I constantly have to watch her watching them! It's insane. I keep talking to her about it, but it seems to do no good.

The really messed up thing was that after we have been working on Teenie for the past week or so on this issue - last night at the dinner table I was busy with Lazy Baby and Baby Sister was smearing her peach juice all over herself and the table - to which my husband looked to Teenie and said something to the effect that she should have been all on top of that!! Which totally goes against everything we've done and told her for the past week! UGH!!

Any suggestions?? Of course I will be saying something to the hus about this...