Why is it that I always find myself getting after other people's children? I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this and I may not be the only one who has asked themselves this exact same question. I feel that I should examine this further.
Alright here's the scenario. Our roommate has two girls. They are very well behaved (yes I know, everyone says this at one point or another about some other person's kids, and they even say that about their own kids), they listen well, keep to themselves mostly, and have a good sense of humor. I have not once, in the short time we have been here, heard their mom yell at them or punish them for anything. Yes, there has been a few times (and when I say a few, I literally mean twice) when she has had to remind them of who they are talking to but nothing worse than that.
Well of course young girls have friends and since it is summer most parents are more than willing to get rid of their kids for a few days (you'll see why I believe these parents dropped their kids here in a bit). Around 7 this morning there were two new quests in the house. I was slightly awaken when they were telling their father good-bye but then I fell back to sleep. Not even FIVE minutes later, I was awake. They were so loud that sleeping was not an option anymore.
This continued ALL DAY. They have calmed down a bit, but that's mostly because one of them is asleep and I'm sure the other two are almost ready for that as well.
So here's where my disciplining other people's children comes into play. My roommates oldest daughter is 15, a good age, and she mainly keeps to herself on her computer. Well of course the other three look up to her and want to be around the cool teenager. Well this specific teenager isn't the type to be "hovered over". She would rather be left alone to her own devices. Well the youngest one decided that she was going to see how long she could push the teenagers buttons and had asked if she could have a turn on the computer. After told that her sister had already been promised the next turn she decided that wasn't good enough for her. She wanted her turn now, and she wasn't going to let anyone be happy until she got her way.
For the next 30 minutes (I kept track) she went on and on with her question. Each time the teenager said no, she would say "please"....
No
Please
No
Please
No
Please
No
On and on and on and on and....well you get the idea. Finally it got to the point where I noticed that the teenager was loosing her cool. After awhile, every time our eyes met she would mouth "Help". I calmly told her that it was so and so's computer and if she said her sister was first to have a turn, that was the final answer. She ignored me, but she rolled her eyes at me first as if to say "I don't know you, so I'm not going to listen". Well by this point she felt it was a good idea to begin to slightly move the table, thus making everything on the table shake, including my laptop. I asked her if she could please cease in doing that and again I got ignored. This went on for a little while longer until I finally couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want the teenager to explode to her and I didn't want to explode at her myself. I took the teenager to her mom's room and we sat down for a minute to talk about what was happening and how we were going to handle the situation so no one would feel put on the spot.
Well needless to say, the little girl was mad at us for most of the evening. Whenever we would talk to her she would huff and stomp off like what had happened has just happened and it wasn't hours ago. She spent most of the night proclaiming that her parents "let me do whatever I want, whenever I want and they never tell me no". Man I wanted to just get in her face and say "life does not revolve around you. There will always be people in front of you who will get the to do what you wanted to do first. Suck it up and get used to it now".
Why do I feel compelled to discipline other people's kids!?! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I feel a child should not always get their way and they should know how to talk and listen to those that are older than them. It is a big pet peeve of mine to see children who disrespect their elders and it is an even BIGGER pet peeve when the elders LET them show them so much disrespect. Now I do not condone hitting a child, because they teaches them noting, but I do believe in putting a child in their place and telling them they are not allowed to talk to their elders in any other manner than polite. Well that is my rant for the day. What are your feelings on other people's kids?
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