not friends anymore

Being told by Tater that you are no longer her friend is rather like being un-friended by the rooster.  How is it going to look any different?

two-point shots

Tater: I don't get this problem.
Me: "I don't get" is not a question.
Tater: This part.
(points to words that say So-n-so made 23 two-point shots. . . )
Me: Well, how much is a two-point shot worth?
Tater: I don't know! They never taught me that! How am I supposed to know?
Me: Well, you let me know when you are ready to tell me and then I will help you set up the problem.
Tater: (rages off)

Tater

Tater appears has one driving purpose in life: to provoke conflict, preferably with Mom.  Her first relationship ever was with her mom, and it was a relationship filled with anger.  Being angry at Mom is a very familiar feeling for her.  Not being angry feels odd.  If she can't get at my buttons, she'll have a go at her brother, or the puppy.  Again, we can see the pattern.  We understand why she is this way.  But how do we effect change?

Garbonzo

Argh.  In the last two weeks Garbonzo has . . .

• stolen a key from the lab and blithely feigned innocence during the ensuing hub-bub of "Where's the key?".  Of course, it was in his pocket.
• stolen pocketfuls of candy from his Gma, and blithely feigned innocence even after the pat-down and discovery.
• talked his sister into a cheating co-op wherein one steals the teacher books and copies the answers whilst the other posts look-out, and blithely feigned innocence even after her confession.
• smuggled off-limits treats out of the house and into his lunchbox.
• locked little kids in the bathroom stalls and threatened to to harm them if they told.
• told us a chore/task has been done when it most obviously has not been done.  This occurs 15-20 times a day. 
• lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. lied. 

We are definitely seeing a pattern.   This nasty behavior tends to appear after any of the fun summer activities.  Day camp, VBS, drama camp, etc.  Anything in which a large group of kids are under the supervision of a few adults (aka anything away from Mom) triggers orphanage behavior patterns.  We can see it.  It all makes sense.  But how do we make it go away?

update

Things are, relatively speaking, better around here.  Not that the stealing and raging has stopped, but that they have slowed down some.  I still have to do pocket checks on Garbonzo on a regular basis, and Tater expresses most large feelings as rage, but all-in-all we have more good days than bad, though that may be by a margin of one.