Girls (And Boys) Gone Wild!
When my kids have friends over, which is quite often, they are expected to follow the same rules that my own adhere to. We don’t have a formal rule orientation, of course, but if there is a minor infraction then I usually let the friend know that “In our house, we have a rule about…”. Usually the offending child acknowledges the rule from that point on. There have been instances, however, when the friend completely ignores my requests to comply with our rules. There are two reasons why this usually happens.
1. The friend’s family does not set down house rules.
2. The friend’s family has a set of rules, but the parents do not follow through on disciplining the child when a rule is broken. This happens a lot with youngest children.
In either case, it is the child who ultimately suffers, because when they visit another home and cannot comply with rules, they are most often not invited back (as is the case in our home.) My question for you all today is: What do you do when your child’s friend refuses to obey your house rules? When I asked the husband what his answer would be, he looked at me as if I was daft and said ”Call the kid’s parent and tell them to come and get their brat.” He is a tad more “Guerrilla” than I! Feel free to leave your own opinions in the comment section.
Tags: behavior, childhood, discipline, friends, rulesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Catch All
4 opinions for Girls (And Boys) Gone Wild!
marye
Apr 4, 2008 at 9:07 am
I send them home. I tell them that I really like them alot, but that we have rules that we require be followed and if they are unable to do so they need to go home until they can.
kadi
Apr 4, 2008 at 9:20 am
Amen to that. Fair and friendly…but firm!
CanadianMom
Apr 4, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Yep, I’d send ‘em home. And if they want to come back, I ask if they remember WHY they were sent home last time, and if they plan to follow the rules this time.
Ashley
Apr 4, 2008 at 3:04 pm
wow - I would be really worried about offending or hurting their parents..
that’s probably not very PC of me, but I would..
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