Bedlam

I was tutoring JoJo (my bee-yoo-tiful niece, Justine) and one of her vocabulary words was bedlam. She knew the definition of the word, but had to give an example of a time she experienced bedlam. The whole point of these vocab exercises is to give her something emotional or personal to connect the word to, in hopes that she will remember it better. Justine rubbed her forehead in frustration, trying to think of an example to write down so we could be done with our required hour and she could just get in the pool already! (I so remember what it was like to be 10 years old! I swear it was only a couple of years ago.) She was getting more frustrated by the second, because she just couldn't think of anything!
Why couldn't she think of an example, you wonder? Well, I certainly did not wonder. We were surrounded by screaming children in various states of undress. All three (although it really did seem like there were at least twice this many) of them were clamoring to either get in the pool or have some ice cream, or some Gatorade, or some strawberry milk, or some other form of sugar, which surely will not help pacify them one bit. The kids alternated between pleading for swimming and snacks and throwing themselves on the ground in hysteria, claiming that so-and- so had hit/kicked/slapped/looked at them wrong. Add to this situation two sex-crazed shi tzus, Biscuit and Mutton, who were engaged in their neverending HumpFest. Envision an elderly man, who is in an especially confused mood on this particular day, and is driving his normally loving wife crazy with worry by attempting to paint the walls and fix stuff when he is dizzy to even walk normally. Now imagine his wife, Nona Donna, who is a very kinetic and chaotic person all by herself, trying to corral and contain all 6 of these beings by constantly shushing them in a stage whisper and complaining about how loud and crazy everyone is acting.
Why, oh, why could Justine not think of an example of bedlam? I think the better question would be how she could think of anything at all while I was tutoring her. I think next time we will be finding a quiet place, like a coffee shop or something.