Guide You Along (Private)

[PhantomPhan]

"What?!" Isabella cried. "B-But I just said I'm hungry! What's wrong with that?"

[CottonFluff]

"What's wrong with it is your attitude, Isabella Marie. To your room. Now. I'll let you come down when lunch is ready, but until then you are to stay up there and remember how to behave." Tielle pointed to the stairs, not really angry but just tired of this. "Now get going, young lady, or do I have to take you?"

[PhantomPhan]

Isabella grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard and quickly ran upstairs, slamming her bedroom door shut.

[CottonFluff]

Tielle rubbed her forehead in exasperation and left the kitchen, bumping straight into Samantha and Natalie.

"Oh... hi. Sorry about that. The problem child is still being problematic, as you no doubt heard."

She walked past them to the living room and flopped down on the couch... she was extremely tired and just needed 5 minutes to lay down and unwind.

[PhantomPhan]

Natalie followed Tielle into the living room and sat down. "Tielle, has Isabella ever been punished like how you punished her before? Like that hard before?"

[CottonFluff]

Tielle sighed. "It varies... I think that what you saw was one of the more extended punishments we've ever done... but as far as sheer harshness? I don't know. I've used the slipper on her before, I've given her smacks with the wooden spoon... I really don't like belting her, but I've done that on her jeans a few times... I don't know, usually it seems like she just gets cranky no matter how hard or soft I go with her."

She rolled over on the couch and sighed, turning her back to Natalie not so much out of disrespect as just exhaustion and wanting to lie down comfortably. "She doesn't take any punishment well... even time outs without spankings get her upset. But I don't know what to do other than what I'm doing. I just want to be a good parent, you know?"

[PhantomPhan]

"You are being a good parent," Natalie said. "Earlier in the back garden... you could have forced Isabella to obey you, but you didn't. You handled her actual punishment very well." She sighed. "How long has it been since your mother passed away? How was Isabella's behaviour before then?"

[CottonFluff]

Tielle sighed. "It's... been a little more than a month now. It's felt like an eternity though. Before that she was... well, she was a little kid, you know? Not particularly naughty but got into trouble. Yeah she had some issues with talking back and disobeying, but nothing like this. Usually when she got spanked she'd be on good behavior for a little while... I think, anyway... heaven knows it's all blurred together now."

She rolled back over to look at Natalie. "She respected our Mother... she might not admit it, but she always looked up to her more than me or Dad. I... was close with her, but not as close as Mom was. She was the baby of the family, so that makes sense, you know? I was on a Pokemon Journey... I came back while Mom was in the hospital, and it was only really around then did we start bonding. We had to. We were keeping each other alive while Dad was off hiding from reality. When Mom died, he did what he could to get a job as far away from home as possible. He just couldn't bear to look at us. I guess we reminded him too much of her."

Tielle closed her eyes and sighed. "Kinda like how Samantha looks like you."

[PhantomPhan]

Natalie drew Tielle into a motherly embrace. "Maybe to Isabella, it feels like she's lost both her parents. You can hold yourself together pretty well, you can understand it better. But Isabella's just a child. In a matter of weeks, I presume, she had her life flipped upside down. First she loses her mother and then when she needs a parent the most, she loses her father, too." The woman smiled sadly. "It's no wonder that she's a badly behaved child. She had a routine and now it's all gone. The life she was used to just vanished and all she wants is to have it back - and maybe, by misbehaving she thinks she'll get her wishes."

[CottonFluff]

Tielle sat up and accepted the hug from Natalie, and even returned it gently. "Yeah... I can imagine so. Not that Dad was super a part of our lives... he worked all the time. He just decided to go farther away when Mom died."

She laid her head on Natalie's shoulder and sighed. "I suppose your right, but it doesn't make it any easier for either of us. I just wish I knew how to replace that routine. I've tried setting boundaries and patterns for her, and she's worked with them to a degree... but she's just a handful. I'm so very glad you all came when you did, because I was starting to worry I couldn't handle her... I would never give her up, not for anything. But what do you do when you're trying to raise someone else's child, essentially? Especially when they misbehave and act out so much..."

Tielle closed her eyes and sighed. "I just want her to grow up happy and healthy..."