Oops! They did it again.

At this point, we just don't know what to do with these girls.  We've put on safety locks on the appropriate doors.  Anything the shouldn't have was placed well out of reach.  However, where there's a will, there's a way. 

Again this morning, Natalie woke us up saying that Leah was being 'naughty'.  The casualties this morning were the qtips (which were strewn about their room), a full container of Victoria's Secret lotion (which got smeared all over their carpeting) and a pair of scissors.  Yes. Scissors.

At first, I was relieved to see that there was no hair on the bedroom floor.  These scissors were WELL out of reach of BOTH girls.  However, miss Natalie got the stool and helped herself ONTO the counter to get them. 

After using the bathroom and seeing hair on the floor, my heart dropped a bit:

I *know* that most little girls do this to each other.  I was really hoping my girls wouldn't do this.  REALLY hoping.  

I have to admit, it made me cry.  Little Leah has the most gorgeous hair and I had NO INTENTIONS of cutting it.  

Would you take her in to have it cut?  

Aside from sticking our girls in a cage or padded room, I haven't a clue of what to do with them.  I guess I expected a bit more sugar than spice from my girls and this 'everything nice' has yet to be seen.  

Natalie knows she's been naughty and will tell us just that.  Yet she continues to do stuff like this.  Prevention is key, yes.  But I doubt CPS will approve of the solutions I provided above.  'Til then, I guess we just have to brace ourselves.

Too Christian?

I struggle with parenting some times, I'll admit it.  I don't know if I'm doing too much or too little with OR for them.  I don't know if I'm being too lenient or too strict.   Austin is now to the age where I need to back off when it comes to his peers and how he deals with them and let HIM to charge.  The mama bear in me wants to take care of things.  It's a learning process for me as much as it is for him.

There is a certain child in our neighborhood who isn't quite the sweetest.  We've lived here for roughly 6-1/2 years and she has only gotten worse.  We live in a town home and there are 30 homes that face our backyard.  It's kinda hard to avoid ANYONE. 

So today, Austin came in the house and said, "so-and-so said I'm too Christian".  My mama bear wanted to kick in, but I decided to inquire further. I asked him what else she said.  He mentioned that she said our family is really "Christiany", made a comment about us homeschooling and how she thinks she has more friends than him, yada, yada, yada (my guess is there was a bit about our number of children, too, but he didn't mention that). 

I just told him to take it as a compliment.  I mean, if we as Christians are to try and live LIKE Christ and FOR Christ, then being "Christiany" means he's doing a good job, right?  I wanted to make the hurt go away for him, as teasing DOES hurt, even if you're NOT a kid. 

However, he still needs to make the choice in whether or not he continues to play with this person.  I explained what is required in a friendship.  If someone makes you feel bad, then they're really NOT your friend.  I'm hoping he is able to stand up for himself and what he believes in.  I hope that he feels PROUD of his family and what we stand for. 

How do you handle these kinds of things?  Do you let mama bear step in?  What kind of words would you share if this was YOUR child?