NO, YOU CAN'T COME OVER

 Recently I came across the blog post It's Never A Good Time To Let Kids In 
that talks about the importance of teaching your kids how to be hospitable and allowing their friends to come over.  I do believe in the importance of being hospitable but what if the kids are destructive maniacs?

I can remember having friends over and we would sit in my room and play with my toys and use our imaginations, but never did my friends break anything I owned and vice versa.  Having friends is important and I want my children to enjoy playtime with their friends.  I love entertaining children and seeing the world through their eyes.  Often my kids have friends come over and I set up some craft activity or watch as they play outside on the swing set.  Then there are friends that come over that think it's fine to jump on beds, climb my son's bunk bed, rip their fat head sticker off the wall, break toys and run through the house leaving trails of items all over the floor.  I may have made the mistake of just dealing with it silently and not worrying about telling the parents but now my kids are annoyed and have voiced their opinions that they do not want these certain kids at the house or in their bedrooms anymore.  So, what am I to do?

I have been adamant to teach my kids the importance of being hospitable.  I teach them that kindness and treating others as we want to be treated is important.  I teach them to be respectful towards others and other people's property. To always say please and thank you.  To love and honor their country.  To love others, even their enemies.  I expect them to clean up after themselves.  We set limits on screen time and there is to be no screen time when company is present.  After all I teach my children it's so difficult when other children, who do not have those same rules, come into my house and destroy everything.  The worst part is when the parents have no control over their children in the matter.  I see how these kids look at their parents and stick their tongue out and laugh when they are being disciplined.

I've come to the decision that these particular kids are no longer welcomed in my house, no matter how great of a relationship I have with their parents.  My husband and I have worked too hard to afford this house and everything in it.  I could always set up activities and consistently follow these children the entire time they are here but that's not always possible because of some distractions I may get caught up in.  So, if your kids are destructive, messy and disrespectful they can't come over.