Stay Calm

I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt that I had a child that was just like me. In this dream she was 9 years old. I dreamt that I went into her bedchamber to awaken her and she threw a stuffed animal at me. Later when I asked her to get a shower it was met with disdain and when she finally took one it was an hour long. When her little sister was playing in their shared bedroom she whined "Don't play with MY stuffffffff". She looked at me when I asked her to stop reading and go play outside and said "you are so mean." with a flip of her hair. When running up some stairs she fell UP them, and she would randomly fall when just walking from point A to point B. I kept waiting to wake up from this nightmare, I kept fighting to open my eyes, I just needed to get back to reality...when I opened my eyes I realized it was not a dream, I was living in this nightmare!!
So what to do when faced with the very real fact that you have a child who is JUST like me? Well the following is a guide I put together if any of you may find yourself in this very real very scary situation.
1. STAY CALM-This is the most important rule. Children like her feed off of craziness.
2. Remember to breath-If you stop breathing you stop living and if you stop living someone else will have to care for this child through adolescence and you really don't want to do that to anyone.
3. Don't make any sudden movements-Her emotions are fragile and unpredictable, try giving her a play by play as you move about the room.
4. Count your blessing-she can and will at times suck the fun/joy out of any situation, try to remain positive.
5. Eliminate the words "Hate & Never" from your vocabulary-hopefully she will not use these as much if she is not hearing them everyday.
6. Roll with it-when she is on a mountain be on a mountain with her when she is in the depths of despair run FAST!
7. Choose your words wisely-Words such as "what, can, and pickles" can throw her off course, try not to use them.
8. Never, Never, under any circumstances say to her "What are/where you thinking"-she is not thinking, that is the biggest problem here, remember that, ALWAYS!
I hope this helps you, and I will try to heed number 2 so as you will not have to experience this first hand...except for the five of you who lived with me from the years of 7-21, I am sorry. You will NEVER get those years back, never.