Troubled teens

Good luck Ned, I have girls, and I think in many ways they are easier.......... until they hit a certain age, then I'd better get myself a shotgun

Bill Lantry, very well said, I agree with you 100%

Be the Big Dog Ned

Ned, you are right on. Bill L - you've put succinctly what many of us feel. Well done.

Ned, you have gotten great advice. Can't add anymore that would benefit you other than if you were closer, would offer my calf pens, they are about three feet deep right now and the building is low so it is all hand/pitchfork work. Be about what the doctor ordered. Pretty amazing the second one had that much swing left after getting the first punch!

Thanks all, so Very much! It wasn't how I wanted to spend the evening, but we all came together and had that Long heart to heart talk. I think we got our message across. We shall see.

Stuart Ablett said:

Good luck Ned, I have girls, and I think in many ways they are easier.......... until they hit a certain age, then I'd better get myself a shotgun

Bill Lantry, very well said, I agree with you 100%

Be the Big Dog Ned

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We had two boys then a late in life girl. Can't say which is "easier" but they definitely are different. We focused a lot more on the girl but a lot of that may have been because she came along so late. Girls are more expensive, no doubt about that part.

Hi again Ned! To protect the names of the guilty and hopefully add a little grin the day after the event I'll be referring to the lads by their injuries - "Brokejaw" and "Swollennnethers". How ever you and your wife sort things out, please try to resist the temptation to give more punishment to Swollennethers than Brokejaw. Like I mentioned last night on the phone and others mentioned here, given the nature of Swollennethers initial injury, I do not believe that the arguably more serious injury given in return to Brokejaw was a calculated malicious act.

If anything, it seems to me that Brokejaw, being the first to escalate from verbal bantering to physical force is the primary culprit in the event and should be, perhaps exclusively, the bearer of punishment. Seems to me that Brokejaw might need the bigger talking to, especially seeing as how we have centuries of Western "man-code" dictating that the nethers are a legitimate target in times of war only, but are to be avoided during non-lethal conflict.

Hopefully things are under control now. We'll be making another pizza today if you need to make a run for it. If you get here soon enough, you can help me use a tool I've never used before for the first time.

The plumbers' snake!

Plumber's snake? I think you need Ned and two additional helpers.

Ken

note to self... see to 'business' before going to mark's

Well Ned, you've got a lot of good advice here. I grew up the fourth boy of 8 kids and we sure had our go- arounds. I will relate one incident that I was involved in. When I was about 4 years old I was outside with my brother who was a year and a half older. We were up to no good as usual for young boys. We had removed some pencils from the house and had borrowed dads hammer. We were taking turns hammering pencils into the ground. I being a proper Irishman decided to take an extra turn. My brother took exception to my largess and an altercation resulted with me taking a whack to the noggin with the hammer. After all the ruckus had settled we both got a good lickin from dad. The thing is, my brother NEVER disobeyed my father again. It was the only time he was ever spanked. He had a very admirable conscious that served him his entire life. I on the other hand.................had to learn most things the hard way. My wife wonders about the blow to the head.

We now have 11 kids and soon to have 12. The boys are.........well boys. (7 of 'em) It's not unusual to have to settle some dispute or other. One thing you might consider is to make them do things for each other. Like each others laundry. I will often take mine out to the wood shop (not wood shed) and get them working on some cooperative project. Boys generally like to work with their hands, and need to weather or not they like it. I will work with them and when something unpleasant shows up I will inject a mild comment like "that's not a kind thing to say" or something like this. They learn by example and need positive input to encourage proper behavior. Just a couple of thoughts.........I lost my brother to brain cancer when he was 44. We were pretty tight. and I was probably closer to him than either of us were to our other siblings. Boys will be boys.