susan
07-24-2006, 06:28 PM
I just need to vent about this, because it is truly annoying.
My boyfriend shares a rowhouse with his grandmother. She is a wonderful woman, feisty and funny but still a typical grandma who tries to feed you at every opportunity because "you're too skinny!" Besides my BF and his 3 siblings (none of whom live around here) she is also grandma to a set of adorable 5 year old twins, whom she babysits frequently. The point I'm trying to make is that she has paid her grandma dues in full.
The family that lives next door has two kids, a baby and a 4 yo. From what I understand, the baby is on the sickly side and gets a lot of attention, while Matthew gets relatively little. I guess you can see where I am headed with this.
He is desparate for attention. Right now, he is a basically good kid, but one who is annoying because he craves the attention his parents aren't giving him. If he hears you outside, front or back, he will fly out the door and start talking to you. It's understandable, but still...on a Friday night, sometimes all you want to do is sit outside on the steps and enjoy an adult beverage and some adult conversation without a kid pestering you to death. It's no use waiting until he goes to bed, they let that child stay up to all hours. I've heard him chattering away at 11:30 at night! However this isn't what gets me upset.
I spend just about every weekend at my BF's. Since I'm off on Mondays, I usually spend the morning putzing around and using his Internet connection. So I get to hear this scene played out on a regular basis. And I know it doesn't just happen on Mondays. If Ed's grandma is working in the kitchen (in the basement), she'll let the dogs out and close just the screen door to the basement. Matthew will either open the door and waltz into the house or (if the door is locked) bang on the door until she gets irritated.
I hear her tell him, more than once, that she is busy and to go away, but he doesn't pay any attention. After that, all I hear from her is "Put that down!" "Don't play with that!" "Go play on the swings!" He doesn't listen at all, since after negative attention is better than none at all. A lot of times she has to physically put him out of the house to be rid of him. How is she supposed to get any housework done, if she has to worry about him? Why should she have to worry about him? She's 70some years old; she should be allowed to putter around her house in peace and spend the rest of her time and energy on her actual grandkids.
She is a nice woman and doesn't mind helping her neighbors, but there is no reason that she should be used as free child care because his mother doesn't want to take responsibility for her own child! And the sad thing is that his mother has no clue. She told my boyfriend that she wants more children! Why, so she can neglect the one she's got even more?
Like I said, on the whole he's a good kid, but that's not going to last. I just know that 10 years from now she's going to be wondering why he keeps getting kicked out of school and why he has a probation officer and that she'll be blaming everybody but her and her husband.
My boyfriend shares a rowhouse with his grandmother. She is a wonderful woman, feisty and funny but still a typical grandma who tries to feed you at every opportunity because "you're too skinny!" Besides my BF and his 3 siblings (none of whom live around here) she is also grandma to a set of adorable 5 year old twins, whom she babysits frequently. The point I'm trying to make is that she has paid her grandma dues in full.
The family that lives next door has two kids, a baby and a 4 yo. From what I understand, the baby is on the sickly side and gets a lot of attention, while Matthew gets relatively little. I guess you can see where I am headed with this.
He is desparate for attention. Right now, he is a basically good kid, but one who is annoying because he craves the attention his parents aren't giving him. If he hears you outside, front or back, he will fly out the door and start talking to you. It's understandable, but still...on a Friday night, sometimes all you want to do is sit outside on the steps and enjoy an adult beverage and some adult conversation without a kid pestering you to death. It's no use waiting until he goes to bed, they let that child stay up to all hours. I've heard him chattering away at 11:30 at night! However this isn't what gets me upset.
I spend just about every weekend at my BF's. Since I'm off on Mondays, I usually spend the morning putzing around and using his Internet connection. So I get to hear this scene played out on a regular basis. And I know it doesn't just happen on Mondays. If Ed's grandma is working in the kitchen (in the basement), she'll let the dogs out and close just the screen door to the basement. Matthew will either open the door and waltz into the house or (if the door is locked) bang on the door until she gets irritated.
I hear her tell him, more than once, that she is busy and to go away, but he doesn't pay any attention. After that, all I hear from her is "Put that down!" "Don't play with that!" "Go play on the swings!" He doesn't listen at all, since after negative attention is better than none at all. A lot of times she has to physically put him out of the house to be rid of him. How is she supposed to get any housework done, if she has to worry about him? Why should she have to worry about him? She's 70some years old; she should be allowed to putter around her house in peace and spend the rest of her time and energy on her actual grandkids.
She is a nice woman and doesn't mind helping her neighbors, but there is no reason that she should be used as free child care because his mother doesn't want to take responsibility for her own child! And the sad thing is that his mother has no clue. She told my boyfriend that she wants more children! Why, so she can neglect the one she's got even more?
Like I said, on the whole he's a good kid, but that's not going to last. I just know that 10 years from now she's going to be wondering why he keeps getting kicked out of school and why he has a probation officer and that she'll be blaming everybody but her and her husband.