Sunday, July 27, 2008

I feel like I could sum up the week with one word: no.
We have some new extra friendly little neighbors ranging in age from 4-8 who like to come over often. Their requests are as varied as the times they come over and I find myself sounding like the same broken record...Here is a typical day.
knock, knock, me or the girls answer the door...
"Can we play?"
Sorry we can't play we have to get out of our P.J.s and get dressed...(maybe you should too.)
and so it continues throughout the day...
Sorry we can't play we have to do school.
"Can we do it with you?"
no.
Sorry, we can't play we're having lunch.
"Can we have some too?"
No.
Sorry, we can't play we're going to the library.
"We can come with you?"
NO.
Sorry we can't play we have to have dinner.
Can we eat with you?
NO!
Can we have some of those cookies?
NOO!
Sorry we can't play we are getting ready for bed.
"Can we have a sleepover?"
NOO!!
Is that the only word I know is NO?
NO!! I say Yes plenty of times during the day when it is okay to play and I let them in. However, even then we get the same scenario...
Can I have a popsicle? Is it snacktime? Can I feed baby Cannon some crackers? and of course the answer is ....you guessed it, Heck NO.

I will say these kids have the skills needed for success in life: confidence, persistence, and the ability to make requests. I gotta hand it to 'em for that.

Also, I should add that last year when I was sick and pregnant I sent my kids out knocking on doors in the neighborhood hoping someone would let them come over to play. I had some very compassionate friends that helped me out a ton!!

Anyway--kids are funny. When Kate found out about the holiday last week she said, "What do you do on Pioneer Day...go for long walks?" We did celebrate a little that day---but not by walking. Pa did some fiddling and we read a story about the pioneers crossing the plains. Adrie said, "We didn't walk across the plains. We DRIVED across the plains."

Brynn gave the family night lesson tonight. She found some magazine pictures of a boy doing various activities and she made up her own doctrine that went like this: "When Jesus was a little boy he liked playing with puppies, and coloring dinosaur pictures, and going to the robot museum.

UPDATE: neighbor mom came and talked to me about her little escapees. They now have to have a note/permission slip from their mom in order to be able to come over and play. aah...routine is setting in.

4 comments:

Megz said...

I hear your pain. The first few times I was nice in my nos and offered little peace offerings like, "...but you can come back after lunch." Now I realize some kids really only understand the blunt nos and a quick door slam.
And my taste buds don't seem mature enough for your new Dreyers flavor.

cold cocoa said...

I know- it is hard to say No, because it weighs you down. But ultimately the kids will get it. They will go to their Mom and say "why don't we have any structure like at Kate's house?" or something similar in kidspeak and hopefully that will be a kick in the pants to their Mom, who is doing what!? Nothing like a good neighborhood to babysit your kids! Muy muy frustrado!!

TisforTonya said...

with Brynn's version of doctrine she should be teaching EQ :) At least in our ward we get a few questionable moments...

Saying No is tedious when it's 5 and 6 times a day to the same children... I've taken to giving them a suggestion as to what day might work better... but come tomorrow I might have to amend that somewhat because I did tell the neighbor girl last Wednesday to try back on Monday :)... we'll see how crazy tomorrow is!

Michelle said...

I'm so sorry; let's hope it gets better when school starts (for them) and they aren't looking for entertainment all day. At least you can send them home. My kids ask for things all day long that they know I will say no to and I can't send them anywhere because of the lack of neighbors. Sometimes the country is great and sometimes it is very lonely. Too bad we don't have a robot museum like some did 2000 years ago to entertain us in our bored moments.