The Neighbor Kids...

The neighborhood is going to hell in a hand-basket.

I haven't always liked my neighborhood. It's kind of snotty on occasion. Sometimes, it is like being in high-school. Everyone has something to say about everyone.

Over time, we worked it all out. We are civil to everyone and have  few good friends. The kids all gather here or next door. It's been good.

Until--the new neighbors moved in.

I am always excited when we get new neighbors. There is some foolish part of me that thinks new neighbors will take a good situation and make it better. Well, not this time.

The people across the street have four kids--two older boys and a boy in first grade and a five year old girl. The younger kids mesh nice with mine--or they would if they weren't raised by their parents.

Since they have moved in, my children have learned all kinds of new words. The best was when my five year old daughter asked at the dinner table, "Why do they call a boy's private parts a dick?"

My husband will not recover. For him, some part of her innocence died that day. He will never be the same.

Now, I have to go over there and knock on the door and explain to that mother that my five year old just walked through the door and asked me what a nigger is.

I have been trying to calm down. I have been trying to gather my thoughts. It is not working.

I am going now and Lisa is going to take up a collection for my bail.

Chris

Comments

[USMC Steve]

Chris, might I suggest getting their attention initially with a burst of pepper spray right in the nose? I am antisocial as hell, but when people outside my family and or social circle show up at my house, I don't go stupid or violent on them unless they antagonize me. Those people need to move to a trailer park and do the pink flamingo thing.

Semper fi and good day.

[Lisa]

USMC Steve,

What did a pink flamingo ever do to you?

Leave the flamingos out of it, will ya...I happen to like them in a shabby chic sort of way.

my response was a "holy shit" (forgive me Lord), but wow. Good luck with that. I'd be knocking heads together, no doubt.

[Chris Sears]

Your kids will be so much better than you can even imagine because of this! They have all this CRAP (don't usually say this word but have been reading "ColHuntIlovethat guy" for a few years) It is cause that stuff (real life) is on the outside and you and your husband (what is right) is on the inside. Don't worry, they can handle that stuff - "They got you babe!"!

[heidelberger88]

I am a cusser. I mean a prolific cusser. I drop the f-bomb about a dozen times a day. But I carefully filter myself around my kids. I have a list of things I say--geez-o-wheezers, coogly-moogly, woobedy-scoobedy. My 3 year old used the geez-o-wheezers one on me yesterday. I like to rhyme.

There are bad parents out there. We all share the same universe. My solution is to not let my children play with kids who don't have as much guidance. Harsh, but something I have to do. I look for those parents who are patient and willing to answer lots and lots of questions and that is usually a good indication that their kids' needs are being addressed in a way that I'm ok with.

That's about the best I could come up with.

[Lisa]

Cursing has nothing to do with what this child said. The term this child used is a term of denigration and that is personal.

Curse words like "shit" or "damn" or even "fuck" are generic curse words. They do not isolate in a hateful way.

Curse words are somewhat tolerated in our household. Racial and ethnic slanderous terms are not. Period.

[heidelberger88]

Sorry, blew right past that part when reading. My husband and daughter were at his mother's house a few years ago when her husband said the n-word in front of them. Hubby brought the daughter home immediately and told me about it. I made him call his mother and explain that my children can no longer come to her house without us because of this incident. I'm half Korean. My kids are 1/4 and are very, very white, all american kids. They may never have to have that overt, in-your-face racism pointed at them, but I am going to make damn sure that they aren't putting it out either. We eventually worked things out with mom-in-law, but I still sometimes wonder if she is doing what is right and protecting my daughter from this crap.

[Some Soldier's Mom]

The best and worst part about kids is that they are indiscriminate sponges -- they will soak up all the good and bad things they are exposed to -- just your job to be sure they get more "good" than "bad".

Look at it as a learning experience to instruct your children in what NOT to say or do (I like the "nice people don't say that" because when your child hears offensive things they actually repeat the "nice people don't" right back at the offender.)

And then, yo can either limit your children's exposure to the family (and if asked, "Why" be brutally homest. It might not engender you to the family, but it will put them on notice early that your family has standards that will not be abridged) or you can instruct the children in your presence about proper behavior and language...