The Good Old Summertime

Summer vacation is off to a start about like we predicted. Nobody has been consistently awful but we've had some ugly flare-ups of defiant, disrespectful behavior.

Of course, since they are on vacation, they think they should stay up as late as they want (the boys) and sleep as late as they want (the girls). I can't stay up that late anymore without dragging around all the next day and we like to enjoy even a little bit of quiet after the kids go to bed so the open-ended bedtime is not gonna happen. I'm much more of a stickler on bedtimes than Ana because I get tired and cranky. We try to stay on a bit of a schedule or else some of the kids think they are entitled to late bedtimes all of the time because they got to stay up late one night. That's where Sparky starts to have meltdowns. If he thinks he should get something than too bad for anybody who says "no" or happens to be in the vicinity. Drama Boy does pretty well entertaining himself but complains of boredom every time he is asked to do a chore or pick up after himself.

Squeaker gave the staff at the B&G's Club a rough time yesterday, mouthing off and demanding to use the phone so she could get herself picked up. She was also caught holding hands with a boy in the teen room which is strictly forbidden there (as it should be).

She is off and on moping and complaining about summer school which started today. Once she gets into it she'll be glad to be going since it gets her out of the house and they do lots of activities, cooking classes, and water days along with the math and language arts.

Yesterday when I picked the kids up from the B&G club a discovered that someone had scratched our last name into the paint on my car. I was almost beside myself with irritation and had them all climb back out so I could scold them about being inconsiderate and careless and destructive and how much it would cost to repair. As expected all of them denied it and nobody cared.

I can't belive one of them actually had the nerve because I am constantly telling them to get away from the car and don't EVER write in the dust or drag stuff along the car because it will scratch. My sad car already has Squeaker's initials carved into the paint twice along with "BB" although I'm not sure who that was. It has various other scrapes and scratches from kids slamming stuff into it or making scribbles in the dust. When we lived at the ranch and had a gravel driveway, Squeaker used to go outside and throw rocks at it when she got mad at me. It had a window broken out by two of my kids shooting rocks off a plastic spoon (the same window that had been replaced several months earlier after it was broken into).

Part of the reason we have been on a declutter and downsize kick for the past five years or so is to decrease our level of frustration when our things are carelessly or intentionally destroyed (not to mention stolen) by the kids. Even the things we continue to use and need like cars, furniture, walls, and doors show the marks of kids rages and thoughtless actions.