My daughters accuse me of "being mean," and of "you don't like me" or "you hate me." It is funny to me how when something doesn't go their way, it automatically becomes my fault. Instead of yelling "I hate you" to me, they turn it around and tell me I hate them... hmm interesting. Here is a true story that just occurred minutes ago... Mae, my 10-year-old was chatting on the phone for about 20 minutes. She comes into the room where I am sitting, and asks me if she can get a blanket. Okay, I say. Are you off the phone? No, she says I put the phone down and told A to hold on. I said excuse me? You don't put the phone down while you are talking someone to go off and perform some other task, that is rude. Please go say goodnight to A and hang the phone up. She stomps out of the room, I hear her tell A "My mom is mean and she doesn't like me and I have to go" and she hangs up the phone. Very calmly, I told her to go to bed. She started screaming at me, telling me I am mean and I hate her. Once again, I very calmly told her to go to bed. Then she said I never taught her proper phone etiquette so how is she supposed to know that it is rude to ask someone to hold on while you do something else? Excuse me? So I am seething inside, but yelling at her will not get me anywhere, so I need to devise a plan - if she thinks I am mean now, after tomorrow she may think I am positively evil.