Raising Children - How to Discipline?

I know a little girl, at least according to her birth certificate, she is still a little girl born May 6, 2004, but nothing about her behavior would validate that.  Liza is seven years old in the second grade and can give her mother a migraine headache without breaking a sweat.

Let me just tell you a few of her most recent antics. Mom made arrangements to have Liza’s hair braided, to maintain a well-groomed appearance at the start of school. Braiding is an African American staple for grooming little girl’s hair and a good “cornrowing” session can take hours. The process was set up to begin at 11:30 and every 30 minutes, Mom texted the hairdresser to learn of the progress. After three hours of getting a return text of “not yet”, she walked up to the home where her daughter was to be groomed, but no one answered the door. As Mom turned to leave, her daughter, Liza, and the young stylist ran to meet her from down the street. After a brief greeting, Mom and Liza walked home, during which time, Liza showed Mom her new bracelet that she had gotten at the mall while accompanying the stylist and the stylist Mom to the mall. Further questioning revealed that not only had the seven year old visited the mall (without permission) for several hours, she had been “dropped off” at a house where a group of teens (her stylist peers) were “hanging out” before returning to yet another place to get her hair braided. Liza spoke proudly and boldly of her adventures despite her mom’s increasing anger and my utter disbelief. I was visiting at Mom’s house during all of this and I witnessed Mom’s due dilligence in calling the stylist often to check on the hair braiding progress.

What is a Mother to do to ensure the safety of a precocious child?