As I was walking home from a friend's house this afternoon, my crazy neighbor waved me over, saying she needed to talk to me.
Ookay.
Well, she wanted to know if her girls had done something, because they claimed I said they weren't allowed at the house across the street from me. I deduced this after discussing this matter with her for quite some time, as I was totally confused by what she was saying.
Back track time.
Across the street neighbor and the friend I just walked home from, both agreed to watch the kids for DH and I for our anniversary date. My kids, being excited about it, either invited the girls next door to come WITH them (they'd be babysat elsewhere, not at our house) or the girls invited themselves. Either way, it wasn't going to happen. I wasn't going to ALLOW them to even ASK Kaylie (across the street neighbor) if they could go over there whilst she was babysitting my kids. She's got her own baby, and I already know she finds these girls and their mouths beyond irritating. So the long and the short of it is, yes.. I DID say they weren't allowed over there, but for very specific COMMON SENSE reasons.
The mouthy older girl then proceeded to tell Layna that "Your mom has no right to tell us we can't go over there!"
While that may TECHNICALLY be true..? I'm an adult, they are my children and I have more information than she does; she does NOT get to undermine my authority in any way with my children.
So I told Lessie "Listen. I understand you're working with her about her mouth. And I hate to say this, I really do. But if she does NOT get her mouth under control, then my children will NOT be able to play with her. Lessie, I've got four kids and I have to fight every day to get them to be respectful of me and my word. I can NOT lose ground because of what your daughter is doing. I need you to understand how very seriously I take this. I need HER to understand that her actions and her words have CONSEQUENCES, and if she wants to play with my kids, SOMETHING has got to change."
Do you KNOW how much I hate confrontation? Do you realize how hard that was to say?
I have enough internal conflict to afford me plenty of learning opportunities all on our own. I do NOT need wretched outside influences telling my kids not to listen to me.
And that was just the most recent example, by the way, there are PLENTY more to pick from as to why these girls either change or just leave my kids alone.
Anyhow, I'm tired. This has been an incredibly long week.
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