The Drama Queen

I have a six year-old daughter, Erin. To describe her I have to use adjectives like: stubborn, sweet, opinionated, feisty, clever, funny, and dramatic. If I ask Erin to do something she doesn’t want to do, there is a long, loud, indignant whine of protest, “Maaaamaa!” before and during the task. After she accomplishes the requested task I must pay for that request by her saying, for example, “I can’t get dressed by myself, I need your help!” This gets old.

Granted, she is the youngest and with eight year-old twin brothers she is the outsider. She can fight harder and longer than either of her brothers, and is relentless if she feels she has been wronged. People outside the family used to worry about her not being able to stick up for herself. One day when she was two and her brothers were four, Morgan did something to her (I can’t remember what) and I looked over to see him lying on the ground and Erin standing over him and smacking him. I said, "Milky (cause that's one of her nicknames), you may not hit your brother." Her little chubby face was screwed with effort and anger as she looked at me. She looked back at Morgan, pulled her foot waaaay back and started kicking him with all her might. I picked her up and carried her over to the sofa, all the while thinking, "Well, I guess that whole question of being able to take care of herself is answered."

The boys do pick on her at times and she does get stuck with loser princess roles when they play knights and stuff. Lately, during Lord of the Rings, she gets to play Eowyn, which is better than many other options. She really gets into her role...and everyone else's too. She's bossy. Most of the time I hear Erin commanding Bowen and Morgan when they play, "Ok, you say.." So, in the boys' defense, she can be difficult to work with. If she doesn't get her way, she says that you don't love her. If she does get her way, well, you're usually playing something really boring like Fairy Barbies Having Dinner in the Woods with Small Woodland Creatures.

Last night she was having an absolute conniption about cooperating and I sent her to her room. She was screaming at me and acting like I hurt her by putting her in her room. I told her she was acting like a Drama Queen (this was the wrong thing to say and I knew it) she followed me into the hall and started yelling at the top of her lungs (while she kicked the wall and stomped her feet), "I AM NOT A DRAMA QUEEN! I DON'T LIKE IT WHEN YOU SAY THAT, IT IS UNPLEASANT AND IT HURTS MY FEELINGS!" (sob, sob, sob).

Erin is a Full-blown Drama Queen, meaning it also applies to illness/scrapes/and blood. Yesterday, and I am not exaggerating here, she said her finger hurt. Ten minutes later she came back to me and said her stomach hurt. Not even twenty minutes after that her throat hurt. In between these reports she played, ran around, and jumped on the trampoline. Finally right before bed, when her toe hurt, I said, "Let me get this straight...right now your toe hurts, your finger hurts, you have a stomach ache, and your throat hurts." She nodded and smiled. "Could you please pick one, because that's a lot to keep up with." She looked at me very sincerely and said, "Well, my toe really hurts."