Well, you can't legislate fun... But I would also be irritated if I went to extra effort to make sure someone had a good time, and they were a grump about it.

Maybe you or DH could ask her something along the lines of "It seems like you didn't have too much fun at the movie the other night... What would you liked to have done differently to make it more fun for you? Rent a movie, then stay in and make brownies to eat while we watch it in our jammies? Go shopping for new craft supplies without all the boys around? Spend time with just Dad or just me? We want you to have fun and would like to know better for next time."

Call me a pessimist, but my first thought was that she was was 'punishing' you for not letting her switch movies and see what she wanted. . .

bingo, martha.

yep, you didn't let her change movies so she behaved that way, typical for preteen girls

Well I feel a little better about it this morning. DH talked to sd last night and explained how we went out of our way by making sure all the other kids were gone so we could spend time with just her. He told her how we planned that movie because she had commented on wanting to see it and if we switched movies we would have had to wait around the theater for another hour. She told him that she loved going with us but she just had a bad stomach ache due to her period. (she just started getting a period a few months ago).

Anyways, my dh says she seemed genuine and honest about it all. So maybe her lack of enthusiasm was really due to that. :)

Now I feel better that our efforts were not for nothing!

Even though she said otherwise, I'm betting NotMartha nailed it and her excuse was her way of acknowledging that she knows she acted like an ungrateful brat and is sorry (but not quite willing to say so yet). Sounds just like a 13 year old...

The brownies, jammies and video at home sounds like a good alternative for the future, because very soon (if not already), she'll be embarassed to be seen with you in public.

Very typical behaviour of a child not getting her way. I deal with situations like that every other weekend my sd , soon to be 13 , comes down. She was sooo much nicer when she was younger. Very grateful, always said thank you. Now nothing pleases her and nothing is good enough for her. And this litterly happened over a one month period! I dont remember high school changing me that bad!
lol
STand your ground. Give her boarders and its good your husband spoke with her. I'm sure it was not her period. She did sound remorseful just didn't want to admit it.

She probably didn't want to go out in the first place. We took our son on a vacation with us in his early teens. He didn't want to go and pouted most of the time. There was no option to leaving him at home. We didn't let him spoil our fun and he started having fun about half way through the trip.

Well, I always had miserable periods....

but if you don't want to talk to your daddy, I bet mentioning your period would do the trick!

Thats funny. I wonder if she mentioned her period to get my dh to end the conversation! So slick :) I do know she is on her period though, she told me the day it began because she only had a few pads left from the previous period.

I am dreading the teenage years with her!! Her sister is such an easy teenager (only 13). She is still sweet and respectful and likes doing family stuff. My poor dh...he is hating having 2 girls this age too! Keep your fingers crossed that we survive the next 10 years!!