Dear Queenie,
My teenage daughter argues with me about everything. If I said the sky is blue she would argue about what shade of blue, or that it was too cloudy to say that or whatever.
One day I asked her to pick up some cake mix at the supermarket and she gave me a big argument about why I would want to bake a cake when I could just buy one from the bakery department (and I never did get the cake mix).
Queenie, why does she have to be so disagreeable?—Fed up
Dear Fed up,
Well, she is a teenager. 'Nuff said?
Probably she is trying to assert her independence. It also could be a way of getting your attention. The best way to handle it is to just agree with her and not let it bother you.
As for an incident like the cake mix, just let it go and do not make (or buy) any cake. When dessert time comes around, just tell her (and anyone else present) that you could not make the dessert you had planned because you did not have any cake mix and she had refused to get it for you when you asked her to do so. So, sorry, no dessert tonight. If others are present and resent missing their dessert, let them take it up with her – the consequences of her behaviour.
