When I left for Bible Study I told the boys and Babysitter M that if she has to ask them to do anything more than once there will be a consequence. They have been struggling being respectful to babysitters.

At bedtime Older Boy chose to take his shirt off and kept hitting Younger Boy in the face with it. Younger Boy asked him nicely to stop and he wouldn’t. Babysitter M said he probably hit him 20 times. Younger Boy kicked him to get him to stop. Older Boy told Younger Boy he was going to pound his face in for kicking him. Younger Boy went to the basement/garage to hide.

Babysitter M put Older Boy to bed. She then sent me the following text “If Younger Boy is hiding will he eventually come out or should I be searching for him?”

This was followed with a text saying “Got him….out in front of the garage door reading his magazine.”
When I got home I told Younger Boy he made two mistakes in the whole thing. One was kicking Older Boy. He should have tried to walk away. He might have, but I don’t know. The second was not letting an adult know where he was going. I explained that Babysitter M and I love him and we want him to be safe, but that it scares us when we don’t know where he is. He started crying when I told him this.

I then talked to Older Boy and asked him if he made good choices. He said, “Yes. Younger Boy kicked me though.” I asked him what he did to Younger Boy. Apparently nothing, even though Babysitter M witnessed the whole thing. I told him I needed to hear his side of the story. He told me I wouldn’t believe him and that I always take Younger Boy’s side anyway. If you won’t even give your viewpoint it is hard to believe you.

Prayers Older Boy would understand he needs to be accountable for his actions.