Asking for Trouble

I think he's blurry enough that I don't feel too guilty for posting his smug little face. You know, since he's a minor and all... but then I also think 'hey paparazzi always snap pic's of famous peoples children and I buy the magazines, so it's not illegal for me to post this obscure photo of this neighborhood punk, right?' So this kid... I've had one run-in with him before regarding a beach ball that went over the fence that he tried to steal but I played it off like "hey thanks for grabbing my kids' beach ball, go ahead and toss it back over to me" and he was like "yeah...ummm...right. OK."

But tonight I didn't want to play so nice. He was mouthing off to my lovely friend Erin who asked him to stop bending the prongs of our fence down because no, he will not be climbing over it as a shortcut to his house. He continued to mouth off to her and continued to bend the prongs down in her face. So I came out and asked him "Would you like to stop now or would you like me to call the police?" since he couldn't seem to stop vandalizing and mouthing off on his own. That stopped him quick, but not permanently.

Soon he was back at the fence, standing and staring at Erin and I. Really? We're supposed to be intimidated by a chubby 12 year old? We ignored him. Then he started tugging on the fence. We ignored him. He started touching the prongs again, not bending them, just touching them. We continued to ignore him, but this time I pulled my phone out and snapped his picture and made sure he saw me do it. He tried to duck down real quick but I let him no he was a little slow on the uptake and I got a lovely photo of him. When he popped his head up he had his hood on, and then he walked home (using the public sidewalks! What a concept!) and when he walked past me he pulled his hoodie up again. I don't think he likes me.

So tomorrow when I post about how I have to buy 4 new tires for my van because they mysteriously all went flat overnight, or how my house was TP'ed or how my cute little Halloween decoration on my front porch went missing, you'll know who I'm gonna blame.

Lesson of the day? I have to deal with my kids being mouthy and defiant all day long and I have to deal with them because I'm their mom. I'm not this kids mom, therefore I don't have to put up with his shit. And my shit-toleration is kind of in short supply these days.