NewWrldYankee´s last blog post..Why Being an Expat May Mean You Are Crazy

(I’m tripping, right now, that my brother and I are communicating through a blog, rather than talking on the phone or emailing! Pretty soon, our kids will be texting each other about scribbling crayons. Oy!)

For the record, I wasn’t livid, and I never though it was my “God given right” to discipline my brother’s kids. Here’s my version of the story:

We were sitting by side drawing with crayons in the restaurant having a great time. My niece (probably 3 or 4) reached over and scribbled all over my picture, so I reached over and scribbled all over hers. An immature reaction? Probably. But I wasn’t livid.

My niece started shrieking bloody murder, and which point my brother asked me what happened. When I told him, he chastised me “You know, we’ve been trying to teach her that tit-for-tat isn’t a good way to respond when you’re upset.”

End of story.

I thought it was a funny story which is why I told it at Thanksgiving all these years later. My niece got a kick out of it.

My niece (2 yr’s old) stays with her mom all day and has had very very little correction from other adults, and she’s starting to get to the point where Uncle Tyler is going to have to set some house rules and I’m not sure how her parents will react.

My daughter (3 yrs) has been in daycare since she was a baby and she’s used to being redirected/corrected by other adults. I don’t mind her aunt or uncle correcting her as long as they do it in a respectful manner.

I think I got a little off subject…sorry

Tyler @ Building Camelot´s last blog post..10 More Things I Love About My Wife – The Final Part!

I’d just spent a week sharing a cabin with my 8 year old twins, and a couple and their 8 year old son. Their kid was really a handful, very out of control, verbally and physically abusive to his parents and everyone (my kids got scared of him), impossibly badly-behaved in restaurants (throwing food, screaming, etc) but I managed not to say anything until we got back to my house, where they were going to stay for another week before heading home.

I was making dinner for everyone the night we got back, and I asked him what he wanted to eat, listing all the kid-friendly choices we had, and I told him that I’d make him whatever he liked. He looked at me, and with his parents looking on, said “f*ck you”!

His parents started making some excuse (oh, he’s so tired! or something like that) but I interrupted them and spoke directly to the kid—telling him firmly (& maybe a little too loudly?) that we didn’t talk that way in my house, that he wasn’t a baby who could get away with that behavior, that I sure wouldn’t make him any dinner if he talked to me like that, but that if he acted like an 8 year old and asked nicely I would make him dinner then.

He threw a tantrum and dashed into the basement followed by his parents who were kind of shocked at me, I think. His parents eventually emerged and we ate dinner. Finally the kid came upstairs and asked for some of what my kids were eating. I pretended nothing had happened and gave it to him, he ate it, and that was that (his parents were amazed: he’s actually eating food! He isn’t throwing it! How did you do it!). He continued to cuss at his parents during the rest of the week (poor parents!), but he was polite to me and didn’t throw food or act destructive anyway.

I’m sorry to say I was so happy when they left, even though his mom was one of my closest friends. And I’ve avoided her suggestions that we vacation together another time, just because it was so hard to be around their son. We just have different parenting styles (!), is the kindest way I can put it!