Where Did This Teenager Come From?

     My oldest daughter Madison will be 13 in January. This is a fact that I have done my best to avoid for some time now - basically since she turned 10 - but with her recently acquired and growing attitude, it is no longer avoidable. *sad face*

     Today, I had to ground her. For the first official time. She was supposed to go help out at her school by doing some babysitting for parents that were there for a meeting, but instead she is grounded to her room.Overall she is a good kid; gets good grades, doesn't talk back, is sweet and friendly and never one to make fun of another person or make anyone feel left out. Her issues on the other hand are things such as refusing to shower, slacking on her chores, having to be constantly reminded HOW to do her chores, and just to DO them in the first place, and lying - about many things; cleaning her room, how she treats her sister, eating certain foods, hacking into my mother's Facebook, and so on. My fiance and I think that her issues may stem from her home life at her father's house (we have 50/50 custody & placement) since she doesn't seem to grasp the concept of "We tell you to do this, so you do it" no matter how many times we talk to her about it. But, we have no proof about what happens over there, so that is just speculation.

     This might be 'typical teenage stuff' but when you're in it, in the middle of the grounding, you feel like you're all alone and no other parent in the world is dealing with this or feeling like crap for having to do it. I HATE having to punish my kids, it's so weird to me. We make the rules? We come up with how to punish them on my own? Isn't there a book on this or a guideline somewhere? And then, I'm the bad guy. The mean mad mom who never lets them have any fun and is always on their ass about everything. Pft, kids are so "What have you done for me lately?"

     I want my sweet girl back. I have a TEENAGED DAUGHTER, and that folks, scares the crap out of me. Bring on the eye rolls, blank stares and pretending she doesn't know who we are in public!