Camp Leaky-Leaky

Monday as we were eating Family Night treats I was enlightened as to some of the recent adventures that have been going on in our backyard. I'm not sure how it all came up, and I'm not sure it's been a blessing to know. Regardless, I want to write this one down for posterity. Someday it will be really funny to us all--I'm sure.

Apparently, some of the neighborhood friends have taken a liking to urinating in our backyard. They have even designated a special spot which they affectionately call "Camp Leaky-Leaky". One of the friends even laughed as he told Olivia that he had "missed the grass a few times and hit the house." What? After asking several times if my boys had been involved and them denying involvement several times I asked if there was anything else I should know. Bad choice. Warren said that one of his friends had peed ON THE TRAMP (ewww) and another had peed in our birdbath. It was a good thing that friends had gone home for the day. This way my kids were able to hear my ranting and the guilty parties were spared the heated speech about keeping certain body parts zipped up while outside. I understand that boys will be boys, and that it must be fun to pee outside (I don't have the equipment to do so I don't know from experience--maybe I'm just jealous). I also know that it may be difficult for boys to understand why it's o.k. to relieve themselves outside when they're camping and not o.k. to do so when they're not. However, my yard is not a toilet and I have not one, not two, but three bathrooms-all containing toilets-and all less than 30 seconds away from the out of doors.

As I fell asleep that night I thought about other things of concern that have been happening. Name calling, leaving bikes, scooters, shoes, and toys haphazardly strewn about our front and back yards, riding bikes through the landscaping, throwing dirt, etc. I have tried to address these issues on a case by case basis, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy having friends over. It is nice to know where my kids are, and I thought I was doing a good job of checking on them periodically. Not so much. I also thought about the fact that summer is right around the corner which will bring with it popsicle sticks and otter pop wrappers, towels for playing in the sprinklers, more kids than usual...and a new baby. I knew I had to take drastic measures and pull the reigns tight before it gets really out of hand. While the kids were at school yesterday I typed up a contract. It has 6 rules for respecting property (the first being the no urinating rule) and 4 rules for respecting others (which includes appropriate language, no name calling, including everyone, etc.). My kids were the first to sign. I told them that I expected them to abide by these rules wherever they went, not only at our house. As friends came to play I invited them in, sat down with them and rationally (I got the ranting out of my system the night before) explained each rule in detail. I also explained the consequences of not following the rules. Then I had them sign and date the contract. Olivia thinks the contract signing is silly and embarrassing. I told her she didn't have to sign, but that would mean she couldn't play in her own yard. She signed.

We'll see how it goes. I think I may have given Warren a complex. Last night he came downstairs from his bed and in a shaky, almost crying voice told me that he had "heard a police" and wondered if they had come to take his friend away for saying a bad word. It took me a while to convince him that the only people that could enforce the signed contracts were Darin and I (and only in our yard) and that his friend was sleeping safe and sound in his bed.

The signing of contracts may be silly, but I feel a whole lot better knowing that the kids are fully aware of what's expected (and seeing their faces when they were signing was actually a bit comical). The next step is to kindly enforce the rules, which in all actuality will be more work for me, but it will give me piece of mind that Camp Leaky-Leaky will be a thing of the past.