Hard-Headed Kids

It was several days ago when Daniya and I were once again, the only two in the gym.  Terrianna, who is no longer in the class, rolled into the gym.  She attempted to interrupt a conversation between Daniya and I.  When I would not engage her, Terrianna left the gym.

Another time Terrianna came in, no one had shown up for the teen class.  I had to get something out of the storage room.  Terrianna followed me, and I knew she had the idea of going in the storage room.  It's not like she hadn't seen the room or its contents before.  She stood there, waiting for me to invite her in.  But I had no time for her to go inside and starting playing around with the equipment.  I quickly got what I needed, and locked the door before she could get a foot inside.  I went and sat down back in the gym, waiting for whomever might show up.  Terrianna started in with her usual barrage of questions, most of which she has asked before and received the answers.  I showed a major disinterest in having a conversation.  It took a long while for her to get the hint before she finally left.

Later that day, Earl, one of the fitness instructors, asked could he bring his class in to cool down.  Since none of the teens had shown up for boxing, I told him he could.  Terrianna was walking right with Earl's class, and giving me looks as she circled the gym.  Let me explain that Earl's fitness class is for adults only.  Terrianna probably figured walking in with them would give her a legitimate reason to be in the gym.

My late parents would refer to Terrianna as being a hard-headed child.  She knows she's not supposed to be in the gym because she no longer has her mother's permission to be in the program.  Her brother Terrance and her sister Te'Ria are in the same position, and they keep showing up, too.  But there's a big defiance behind Terrianna's behavior that irritates me the most.  When she's in the gym, she's always looking for attention.  The more focused I am on working with the kids who are actually signed up for the program, the more it seems she doubles her efforts to distract me.

"Wow, Hillari, why the attitude?  The kid's not really doing anything that bad," some of you might be saying.  Terrianna spent a couple of sessions in the program and she basically did nothing.  I quickly grew tired of getting her to focus on training.  I spent too much time snapping at her to stop acting up.  Terrianna has an annoying habit of touching things that don't belong to her, like my lunch, and the attendance book, for example.  No matter how many times I point out how rude it is to put her hands on something that she was NOT given permission to touch, she does it anyway.  She clearly has no interest in boxing, yet she wants to keep playing in the gym.  It's not a playground. There is one in the back of the field house, and she needs to go there when she wants to play.  Or better yet, she needs to find another activity to get involved in; the field house has plenty.