I Don’t Want To Eat At the Kid’s Table!

Will and I went to a pig roast last weekend.  Yup – a pig on a spit – apologies to all you vegeterians out there. 

I choose to live by the creed that everything tastes better with bacon. 

It was an awsome day – sunny, everyone was skating, old friends, new friends – it was truly great.

Later in the day, my boy got hungry so we went inside to eat and take it down a few notches.  Pretty quickly after all the kids did the same.  Will, being obsessed with going up and down the stairs, decided to head down them to check out the action.  We got down there and there stood three little girls all around seven.  My heart got struck with fear.

Have I mentioned that I really, REALLY wanted a boy?  I would have been happy with a healthy girl for sure, but I can admit it I was biased.  Why you ask?  Little girls scare the crap out of me.  I’m not really sure why.  I can trace my gum phobia back to a friend who used to chew giant wads of hubba bubba and pull it out in my face…but I digress.  Fear of little girls – yeah, still not sure.  Two of these little girls I didn’t know – the other is my friend’s daughter – who doesn’t scare me in the least because all her friends are little boys so I get her a bit more.

Anyway – these little girls were fighting over a toy and whining and crying.  And I had NO CLUE how to deal with it.  I froze.  I sort of stood there looking back and forth waiting for someone to save me.  Then the one little girl yelled at me and I snapped back into it.  ‘Umm listen X, I may not know much but I know you do not speak to me like that.’  Then the lip trembled and she started to cry.  And I admit it – I picked Will up, slunk upstairs and mumbled, ‘um someone’s kid is crying downstairs.’  I know – I suck totally.

Of course by then Will had discovered that the kids played downstairs, so five minutes later, back down we go. 

By now, they’d multiplied – there had to be 8 little boys and girls down there and again – I was the only one over eight years old.  The girls went at it again and at this point my friend came downstairs.  I looked at her and said, ‘I’m not sure how to handle this yet – help.’  She cleared it up in a minute and in such a logical way.  Clearly she was meant to have girls or I’m hoping I’m going to pick up this negotiation skill along the way. 

**sidenote – how many safety issues in this picture…we just need a saw and a bucket of hot grease**

This brings me to one drawback of the single parent.  For a few more years anyway, I’m hanging with the kiddies at these family parties.  I can’t switch off for some adult time upstairs (until a friend graciously offers, which they do from time to time).  In all honestly, sometimes it sucks.  Sometimes you want to be upstairs with the grownups talking about things other than why SHE gets to hold the lantern longer than me or why there aren’t any GOOD toys at the party.

But this whole crazed little girls at the party begs this question and I need some answers.  How do you handle disciplining other kids when their parents aren’t around?  It’s such a fine line and one that I’m totally unsure of how to approach.  My mom friends and I have an unwritten rule that if your kid is doing something that pisses us off, we’ll tell you asap so as not to have any lingering hard feelings but what if you don’t know the parents?  What then?  Some guidance for this newby would be appreciated!