Zeno's Bar & Grill

Today, after school, I let my son and daughter play in the (relatively) balmy 50 degree weather. A group of boys, my son among them, decided it would be fun to have a snow ball fight. Now the thing about snow is a couple of days of above freezing temperatures combined with intermittent drizzle causes it to turn into ice, which is what the boys were throwing at each other. I was the only adult present (which is a little annoying on it's own given that there were at least 8 other kids there all under the age of 10). I looked around hoping that another grown up (which I don't always feel qualified to be) would show up or the nanny sitting in her toasty warm car would look up from her magazine. Alas, it was just me. I decided I had to say something. So I told the kids to stop, that it was dangerous, it wasn't fluffy snow, you'll put someone's eye out, blah blah blah. So they stopped - for about 30 seconds, then it gradually started up again. Again, I told them to quit and again they failed to listen . My own son was even taking part, though not actually throwing anything, he was definitely in the game. So we left. What else could I have done? I had a long talk with my kids that evening about respect and listening when an adult tells you something, even if it isn't your parent. It reminds me of an earlier post on the decline of people reprimanding other people's kids. Maybe this is why they don't.

--Kelly