raising godzillas

My goodness, I have NEVER done this before

This summer, the kids, most especially the boys, have NOT been getting along at all.
I think there are several factors in play here.
One has been a summer that is unusually cold and wet, even for the Pacific Northwest. Double whammy- the kids have been inside, and The Boy has been less likely to go visit his friend J across the street, because J is not allowed to have friends in the house while his mom is at work .
And.
This spring I had to decide to ban Turbo from playing with his neighbourhood friend. I really thought that if I Did the Right Thing and was a Good Neighbour,it would be good for both boys and I could be a positive, loving (not to mention supervisory) influence on a kid who is sure to have a police file at some time. This backfired on me big time, and to make a long story short and intentionally vague, I had a neighbour threaten to call the police on Turbo for something Stinky had done (I know Turbo didn't do it because he was at the table, doing schoolwork at the time). Another double whammy-he's mixing it up with his siblings instead of playing with a kid his own age, and I can't threaten to ground him  to keep him in line.
Aaaand...since the only person Gothgrrl used to hang out with in the neighbourhood is Stinky's older sister, it's created a rift means they rarely see each other. I do think GG decided on her own that the family was bad news, and even had to make excuses to herself to justify drifting away from a friend.
So. My kids. Stuck inside the house, together, with naught but the occasional chore to distract them from going bro-jitsu on each other, bad.
So yeah, judge me if you like, but my kids will start school early, and if they have the same kind of months long back to school adjustment period as last year, no Christmas break. But if you do judge me, I invite you to come send a day doing my job.

posted by gojirama @ 12:29 PM