Murky Parenting

So we let big kid invite a friend to the water park... but not lil brother...who said, "Das not fair!" followed by a huff, a stomp, and a door slam... And he's right, it's not. But Mr B and I didn't want to have to closely watch someone else's lil kid flounder around the deep end at the opposite end of the pool from our lounge chairs. So call this selfish (if you must), but we just wanted to soak up some rays in freakin' peace and silence without having to do the life guard's job ourselves. We actually discussed this beforehand, so this was a deliberate c*ck block to lil brother having a play date. And btw-he actually had a blast doing his usual fearless danger-ranger antics with no one to negotiate with as well as hanging with the older, "cool" kids. And Mr B and I got to lie in our chairs uninterrupted without having to get up and watch/worry about kids. Mission Accomplished-guilt free.

OK-moving on to the neighbor's kids (this is the juicy stuff-although a little risky to put it on the Internet-but who am I to walk away from that, right?!?). Lil brother loves the neighbor kids and has invited the youngest brother X to spend the night multiple times. And every time he does, he comes back to report that X can't come over unless the big brother Y comes too. Sigh....!!! F@#$! Really?!? When did brothers become a package deal??? So sometimes I capitulate and let BOTH spend the night, and sometimes I put my foot down and tell lil brother to tell them only ONE KID. Which I suspect causes high drama next door. And means that lil brother has NEVER been invited to a spend the night at their house and even got left off X's bday party list a few months ago. C'est la vie. Screw 'em... But it does hurt lil brother's feelings. However, a few nights ago, lil brother scored a spend the night invite from friend X. He was ELATED!!! "Dis is de first time EVER!" And I am happy for him. So we pack up the sleeping bag, brush his teeth, put him in jammies, have a quick manners review, and I send him out the door with a kiss. And Mr B casually reminds me, "Hey! You forgot to send big kid with him." And y'all, it was sooooo tempting...