AAHHHH!!

I know I should be nicer, but how can I?  Richard goes out of his way to pick up these boys for cub scouts every Tuesday and even takes them home.  Sometimes I get recruited to do the picking up and dropping off.  

I guess it would not bug me as much if they were more appreciative.  It seems that they expect someone to pick them up and take them home.  I guess it has to do with the way they are raised.  The parents teach the children by example and if their example is to think that they are owed something from everyone they meet, then the kids are going to think that way also. 

We have done alot for them.  We offered to take the whole family to several pack meetings, have them over for dinner and even got them bikes!   When their bikes were stolen, and someone gave us some old bikes, Richard fixed them up and gave them to them.  Only to have one of the boys take the nice bike apart to put together a total piece of crap.  The one daughter cried because the bike she got was pink.  Not sure, but when you don't have something, shouldn't you just be gratefull that someone cared enough to give you it? 

The one boy came into my house and wiped dog poop off his shoe onto my couch and a recliner, acts like my house is his and does what he wants and has absolutely no table manners.  How can parents teach children to act like this?!?!?   He is always asking for stuff, like we have 2 fishing poles and he asked if he could have those, asked Christopher if he could have some of his cars that he just got for his birthday.   And last night, they were in my car and I told them to stop yelling over the music and there is no eating in my car.  Did they listen? Nope, not one single bit.  They continued to yell over the music, which I had on lower then I normally due and they ate cookies in my car and got crumbs everywhere.  Amberlin even told them twice that I said no eating and they still did it.  Richard says he is going to talk to them about that.  He thinks they are taught by their dad that they do not have to listen to women, so they ignore me.  Plus the older boy ran to my car and yelled shotgun, I had to tell him that it is my car and I decide who has shotgun and the oldest child in the car gets shotgun.  

I use to complain about my own children's lack of manners, but after dealing with these boys, my kids are perfect little angels!  Sure they occassionally eat with elbows on the table and accidentally track poop in the house, but at least they correct themselves and clean up what they tracked in.  When I tell them not to eat in my car, they listen.  They don't ask for everything, but they are willing to give their own stuff away to make someone else happy and when they get something, you hear thank yous and get hugs and they are so excited.  

Though I feel I am teaching my children the correct way, maybe they think they are too.  Who knows maybe they learned what they know from their parents and so on and so forth?   There really is two different worlds theirs and ours, the right way and the wrong way, but I am sure they see it that way too.