I guess I'll go eat worms....

I've been dealing with neighbors the last couple of months and it finally all came to a head last week and the end result is that my boys can't play out front anymore. It's your ordinary, run of the mill disagreement between how our children should behave and how it should be enforced and I'll leave it at that.

So, this has really thrown me for a loop because I am a people pleaser from way back. I've never been one to force people to listen to my side of things and I literally have to stop myself from going against what I want to make others happy. But, I've had a lot of truths come out of this situation too.

1. My boys don't have to play with every child they know and when it comes right down to it, it's my job to make sure they play with kids that have a lot of the same standards that we do.

2. I can't force my kids to be the bad guys to make other people happy. I have to be their advocate and stand up for them even if it makes me unpopular.

3. I will make my kids take full responsibility for their actions, even if they have every right to choose those actions.

I still haven't worked it all out because I am hurt and I do want to blame it all on them but I'm trying really hard to look at it as objectively as I can so I don't miss an opportunity to teach my boys a lesson or learn a lesson about myself because I've never been in this situation where I'm responsible for my kids' action on other kids. But at the same time, I have a strong feeling that I am in the right and I want them to know it! Ugh...I'm rambling but I want my boys to be able to play with the other kids and I want to be able to chit chat over the fence with my neighbors but that can't always happen. The phrase "set apart" keeps popping into my head and I know that I am set apart from them. I don't accept the same things they do and I don't parent the same way they do. And that's okay. Just because I don't agree with them doesn't mean that I'm better than they are or that I'm even right. I just have to know that I'm doing everything I can to keep the situation as "clean" as I can and not let myself fall into the trap of being nasty because I'm mad. It's just hard to be on the outside sometimes.