my thoughts are harkening back to my 10 year old daughter’s toddler years this morning…they are not warm and fuzzy thoughts. after her 5th “No! Don’t talk to me! I don’t want to talk about it!”, all before breakfast, i was having deja vu…haven’t we been here/done this before? seems like we’ve come full circle in her first decade of life; i remember similar behavior from her (and her older brother, come to think of it) when they were in their “terrible 2’s”, that lasted until they were nearly 4 yrs old…hope the terrible 10’s don’t last quite so long. it would be nice to have a breather before the teenage angst sets in. any other parents of 10 year olds experiencing this? how do you manage it?
here is a website with some advice about how to manage some types of close encounters with your children:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/temper.html
Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker 
“this too shall pass”…words to live by. i am glad whenever anyone reminds me of that, so thank you. i think i’ll write them on an index card and tape them to the fridge for the next year or so…(update: she has turned 11; today was calmer. hope it’s the start of a trend. :))
I just remember I had a difficult time when I was 10-I wanted to be left alone and nothing seemed right. Be there and know “this too shall pass”. Have definite standards that you follow and be flexible without caving. Kids always need to know the parent rock will be a safe place to go to even if at the time it is not appreciated. Prayer helps:) Why worry when you can pray.