Leave your monsters at home please!

The summer is almost over even though the scalding sting of misery still radiates from my car every time I open the door. You know when it is so damn hot that your temporarily blinded until your eyes start to water in a desperate attempt to lubricate and or salvage whats left of your eyeballs, yeah that kind of hot! So as I look back at the busy days of the past few months I start to notice what I could only call a pattern. No it wasn't the museum bender the kids and I went on or even the continuous cleaning up of shedded dog fur. It turns out I yelled at what seemed like a back to back line of ill bred, rude, disrespectful children! It's like they all crawled out of some unsupervised hole and ended up in my living room. When did parents stop disciplining their damn kids and why the hell did they keep turning up at my house?
A prime example is the little girl that showed up at my sons 3rd birthday with her uncle. It was the first time I ever saw the devil in a dress, I must say! After some time of her eating candy, of course not forgetting to stuff the melted chocolate covered wrappers between my couch cushions, locking little boys in the bathroom with her ( high school football team will love her one day), and bullying everyone I had enough. I told her repeatedly to knock it off in my not so friendly voice. Her uncle even attempted (insert laugh here) to reprimand her by yelling," why can't you just be normal?!?!? Look at the other kids they aren't acting like you! Just be normal". This is my favorite part, where she kicks him in the chest and jumps off my couch. So amusing, no? I didn't think so either. The last straw came when she locked my 9 year old out her room and got in my face screaming at the top of her lungs that she was playing a game and my daughter is rude because she is bothering her. This little piece of sunshine had they nerve to tell me I better make my daughter behave! Oh hellllll no! Insert me, irate, hair blowing back in mysterious wind whilst I summon the powers that be, channeling evil itself " Look little girl I don't know who you think you are or where you think your at, but you will never speak to anyone like that again in my house, do you hear me? What are you like 4 years old? There are a whole lot of corners in this house and don't even think I won't put you in one. Don't you ever disrespect anyone in my house again!" Wide eyed and stunned she backs out of the room. I calmly go find her uncle and tell him, " yeah your niece is probably going to say your friends wife is mean, I'm ok with that."
These kids haven't all been strangers either! I had one of my daughters friends come over for a few hours. It all seemed fine, nothing major, that is until her mom came. We were talking back and forth when the charming 9 year old in question blurts out, " Mom, your so full of crap your eyes are turning brown!" Gasp, cough, the horrible knowledge that I am about to witness this child be physically abused in my own house, mingled with the idea that she kind of deserves it. My panic is broken when her mom bursts out laughing, " I say the same thing to you! HAHA! She is just too funny sometimes." I try to smile and look at my own 9 year old who's mouth is still open. After the girl leaves me daughter goes," Mom I don't really understand what she said but I don't think it was very nice, was it?" That's my girl!
Exhibit 3, even less of a stranger! Some relatives came to town and I let the two girls stay with us for the night. I have never heard kids talk back, bicker, and blatantly disobey adults so much before in my life! There was just a constant blur of rudeness! My husband was telling them to keep it down at bedtime because, " like your father I have to get up early in the morning to go to work." "well my dad doesn't have to go to work tomorrow!" I do have to admit it was pretty brave because my husband tends to be pretty scary to kids, that being said I was very proud of my husband who simply took a deep breath and told them he did have to get up at 4 am and if they didn't keep quite he would be back to drag one of them out of the room and make them sleep on the couch. Come on I found that very civil!
To be fair my summer was infringed on by rude children everywhere we went. Like the tween boy at the children's museum that put his hands on my toddler to push him out of the way. Now I don't know if it was the mother hen in me or the evil bitch, but I told him he might want to reconsider ever putting his hands on my kid again. Then I pointed out the other kids I was there with and basically informed him they were off limits too. I then glared at him until he knew I was dead serious and a bit frightened of what I was capable of. From that point on I smiled warmly at him whenever we were in the same part of the museum until he was so freaked out by my apparent mental imbalance that he would walk away.
Now the point of all of this isn't just that I met some pretty horrible kids, the point is somewhere in the background there were some pretty horrible parents that dropped the ball! Come on people! Wake up and be parents! Were aren't raising kids here, were raising adults! You can pretend to be their best friends all you want, it still comes down to the fact that one day they will be teenagers and they will HATE you! There is no getting around it. For several years we will all be uncool, mean, controlling,embarrassing and not know what it's like to be "them". At least prepare them to function in society. Let them have the tools to be respected because if they stop turning to you, which they will, they have to turn to someone. Do you really want them turning to the wrong people because they where such a-holes as kids no proper, loving person will be there to support them. I know it's harsh but it's true! The more you can say," I know one day your going to hate me for a few years but I am going to still love you and enforce the rules" the better a parent you can be. If you really want to be a good friend, discipline your kids so your friends don't have to put up with your little monsters!