This Week in Parenting

-1-

Nicky has been working on his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge. One of the requirements involves looking at the headlines in national news every day. Because of this, we've had to have many talks with him about things like politics, sexual abuse, North Korea, sex ed, and gun violence.

I never knew I'd be so grateful for a volcano in Hawaii.

The volcano talk? I can handle that one.

-2-

Last night Eva kept asking me a question, and I couldn't understand her. She was so frustrated with me, so I finally said, "Yes," having no idea what I was agreeing to. She then ran upstairs to Zoe yelling, "She said yes!" (That was a little bit terrifying).

A minute later, Eva started screaming like she'd been hurt, so I went to see what happened.

Apparently, the question she was asking was, "Me teenager?" and I said, "Yes." I guess she and Zoe had been arguing about whether Eva was a teenager, and Zoe was adamant that Eva was not a teenager, so Eva came to me for back up. When I asked Zoe why she punched Eva in the face, she yelled,"BECAUSE EVA IS NOT A TEENAGER! SHE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A DRIVERS LICENSE!!!"

Alrighty then.

-3-

Nicky has been getting trouble lately for mouthing off. He can be a little sassy pants, and he is quite defensive. I got after him last night for speaking disrespectfully to his dad, so he told me that he wants to have his voice box removed because that's the only way he can control what he says.

-4-

This morning I noticed one of Zoe's nightgowns peeking out of Scotty's sock drawer. Upon further inspection, I discovered that Zoe has been moving her stuff into our room bit by bit - as if she can do it slowly over time and we won't notice. When we asked her about it, she confirmed that yes, she has been slowly trying to take over our room. Eva is in on it, too.

I read in a parenting book recently that if your children rule your bedroom, they rule your life. Hmm...