More Touch Up Paint To Follow
I’m not sure what I was thinking when my mother-in-law asked if it was still alright for her and our two nieces, to come visit over spring break (after I told them we in the midst of packing and getting our house ready to sell) and I said SURE! We welcomed them into our very small, two bedroom/one bath home last night and I’m already dreading the fact I’ve got to go back and touch-up all the walls and baseboards that I just touched-up with paint this week.
I thought that today we’d get out of the house and destroy someone else’s property. So off to the children’s museum we headed. Great plan considering every child in the tri-state area is out of school and every mom on their last frazzled nerve headed there too!
It was fun and the kids did enjoy the exhibits and a special dinosaur presentation, but it only lasted a few hours before we were back home and bouncing off our own walls again. Really it isn’t the fact that they make messes and seem to go through drinks like small camels. My issue is the yelling. And the door slamming. And the whining. I can’t handle those three things for very long without losing it entirely.
You know how it is with disciplining someone else’s child. I’m stern and not afraid to tell either of them to stop jumping on the bed or to pick up their toys, but I feel out of place telling them to knock it off or else - over and over again.
Ethan’s been a little upset with the fact that he gets in trouble for doing the same things his cousins don’t get in trouble for. We don’t tolerate a lot of the behaviors that they are allowed to display. At the museum today I had packed snacks and drinks for everyone. When we sat down to eat, one of my nieces threw a fit about getting a snack from the vending machine and not eating one of the 3 things I packed. My MIL quickly gave in and then offered to get Ethan something as well. I refused stating that he could eat what I brought or do without. He didn’t protest, because he knew that is how we roll.
It’s the little differences like that which make things hard. But he is enjoying spending time with them, even if they are bouncing all over 1,000 square feet of our home. My husband worked today leaving me to provide the entertainment, but tomorrow night I’m headed here to watch my friend try not to break anything.
UGH, by the end of the visit, you’re going to be ready to join the derby just so you can whop somebody!
See you tonight.
The whining, why do they do that? Looks like you are coping as well as can be expected. I am so with you on the rules thing, try having stepkids who only come to your house every other weekend where you have rules and at home they have none. As you might suspect, they don’t embrace it.
I share your frustration. My sister has 2 kids, and she and her husband are FAR less restrictive than we are with our daughter. It’s a challenge trying to explain why one set of rules applies to other kids, especially because she’s just 3 (and therefore prone to the endless “why?” loops) and they’re older and held to a lower behavioural standard than she is.
We own & live in a 100+ year old wooden apartment building in the country. Since we rent almost exclusively at low cost to young families just starting out(no public housing assistance cases thankyou) we frequently have youngsters in residence. We’re on the top floor, each floor is its own apt, and the little ones can REALLY be heard AND felt when other kids visit. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not so much that the little people that live here are better behaved, we’re just attuned to their particular noises & running and tend to not hear it. Just a theory, but I’m sticking to it!!:):):):)
Yikes, what a week, you are a brave woman. Brave, brave woman. and nice too:)
The different ways we all parent, some better than others, can really aggravate already complicated family and friend relationships. I can hardly endure my own children, someone else’s badly behave progeny make me crazy. You’re good to host.
it’s gotta be hard to explain that (political) situation with your son!
he looks like the coolest pirate. i suggest he walk around like this more often. my cousin always walked around as a cowboy for as long as i can remember. somehow he’s now 21 and i don’t know how he’s not a cowboy anymore.
It’s really hard to adjust to other people’s children. Everyone has a different level of discipline and therefore the clash between kids can be interesting at best. Hang in there and soon it will be over. I’ll be thinking of you…
My best,
Dorothy from grammology…
[…] knows. We have purchased another house and that means our evenings have been spent painting (mostly touching up things) and getting our house ready to put on the market this weekend. The countdown is on. We are truly […]