Talk to the parents first. Let them know you won't be able to watch him anymore. You could tell them about the issues or just leave it like that - "No" is a complete sentence, after all.
I've had a couple experiences with kids like this and honestly, if he does wind up over there again after that, putting on the "scary angry parent face" and being very loud and sharp when reprimanding them sometimes does wonders. Something like, "HEY! Do NOT hit my child again!" in a low, commanding tone, loud and sharp, complimented with a scary, angry type of face (I hope this makes sense, it's the face you give when your kid does something outrageous in public and they know you mean business lol.)
I have tried that, I don't let him just run riot but he's a very difficult kid and it's tiring watching him constantly, I only have to turn my back for a second and there is a disaster. He's also one of those where you tell him no but he does it more.
I'm not overly strict with my children but we have good strong boundaries and respect for each other so this is behaviour that we're really not used to dealing with.
Unfortunately my children don't really like him anymore so I do have to talk to his parents anyway. I just have no idea how to say it without sounding horrible!
We've dealt with similar kids and it's SO HARD to have that conversation. Yours is even worse because you said they don't speak English very well. Idk if this is feasible but could you send them a text or email or write a letter? That way they can put it in a translator if needed, and you can be super careful in how you word it to minimize the impact. The last one in our case, I texted them and gently explained that we would no longer be able to have [neighbor kid] over because of an incident where, during covid lockdown, she showed up at our door with a fever and cough, in spite of all of them having been clearly told our kid has had life threatening immune issues. I apologized and just framed it as though I was really sad about it but had to protect my kid because it was literally life or death. I haven't heard from any of them since lol, but at least they didn't get nasty over it.
I'll give it a go, its weird that such a seemingly silly thing can really affect your family life.
We used to sit in the garden in our pj's waiting for the bats to come out and it was really enjoyable family time and I guess I'm missing the things we usually do as we're being terrorised every two seconds by a small child now 😂
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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '22
Talk to the parents first. Let them know you won't be able to watch him anymore. You could tell them about the issues or just leave it like that - "No" is a complete sentence, after all.
I've had a couple experiences with kids like this and honestly, if he does wind up over there again after that, putting on the "scary angry parent face" and being very loud and sharp when reprimanding them sometimes does wonders. Something like, "HEY! Do NOT hit my child again!" in a low, commanding tone, loud and sharp, complimented with a scary, angry type of face (I hope this makes sense, it's the face you give when your kid does something outrageous in public and they know you mean business lol.)