Haha... now that's using your noodle..

Caden and Billy spent the afternoon annoying each other, the other kids, and me.

If they were playing together, they were arguing.
If they weren't playing together, they still had to argue from across the room.
It was making everyone a little nuts.

When we went to the gym, we took our fun noodles. They're cut to about 2 foot lengths, we have used them for a few games, using them to smack a squishy ball around, tagging each other in a different game and apparently they inspire even the oldest kid, Dane, to have flights of fancy.

They were all unicorns for a bit this afternoon. Magical. They were having a great time. Until. Until it degenerated into smacking the crap out of each other with the noodles despite my previous instruction, complete with physical demonstration.

"This is how you tag. You do NOT smack each other."

"But it doesn't hurt!"

"I didn't ask you if it hurt, I told you not to do it. I suggest that you do as I've asked."

So they decided that trying to yank the noodles out of each other's hands would be fun. Tug o' war.

Uh, no.

So I blew my whistle. Said, "People. We're not going to play tug o' war with the noodles."

Whines of, 'how come/that's not fair/why not/'

I explained. "Let's say I'm holding one end and Kenzie is holding the other. And I suddenly let go. What will happen to Kenzie?"

They got it. But it didn't stop them. They kept doing that AND whapping the bejesus out of each other with the damn noodles. In addition, Caden stole Billy's noodle and was dancing just out of his reach, taunting him. It only took a moment for Billy to turn into Screaming Tantrum Boy (pat.pending). STB's never far from the surface.

I was already on it, but the tantrum showed up before I got Caden to stop. Of course.

So I had to confiscate the noodles. They're back in their bin and in the back room. The last time that happened, they were in the back room for a week. I'm considering how long they need to be there this time, since it didn't work to tell the kids not to smack each other. I may end up bringing them home.

We had a little talk before we left the gym today. I explained to them that they've probably figured out that if they want to do something, learn something, make something or disagree with me, that's completely fine. As long as we treat each other with respect, they're allowed to pretty much do the things they want during their time with me.

"But you guys, there's one thing I won't compromise on. Do you have any idea what that is?"

Billy guessed, "Hitting each other with noodles?"

"Close, Buddy. I suppose that's part of it. I won't compromise your safety. I won't have someone getting hurt if I can prevent it. I don't like to see kids get hurt. Your mom and dad don't want to see you hurt when they come to get you, either. And I don't want to have to call a mom or dad and tell them they need to come pick one of you up because you're hurt. Not going to happen."

And we headed back to our little room to read.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you what I said to Caden's dad. Because Caden had some very inappropriate things to share with me this evening after the rest of the kids were gone.

::sigh::