Respect

I'm having some respect issues with the third and fourth graders - worse than last year. Yesterday, I found myself getting overly frustrated and losing my calm with them. I'm so sick of the back talk and the attitudes when I call them on something.

I know humour can help, but it's hard to let it roll off you when they are pushing your buttons. Our kids all say "Oh, Wow" (sarcastically) whenever they get in trouble so I'm going to try to respond with something that diffuses the tension (at least for me) rather than lecturing them.

How do you handle respect from your kids, particularly when you only have them once a week?