When my brother asked me to watch his sons, Tyler and Jaden, for two weeks, I expected noise and mess not arrogance and entitlement. From the moment they arrived, they sneered at my home, mocked my cooking, and laughed at my son Adrian’s gaming laptop. I bit my tongue, reminding myself it was temporary, but their constant put-downs wore on me, especially watching Adrian’s kindness get dismissed like trash.
The final straw came on the drive to the airport for their flight to their grandparents. Minutes after getting in the car, they refused to wear seatbelts. “Dad doesn’t care,” Tyler shrugged. Even after their father told them to buckle up over the phone, they crossed their arms and stared me down. So I shut off the engine, got out, and stood there. We sat in that standoff for 45 minutes while they sulked and whined, the clock ticking toward their departure.
When they finally caved, traffic had built up, and we reached the airport ten minutes after boarding closed. The stunned look on their faces when they realized they’d missed their flight was priceless. My brother immediately called, yelling that it was my fault. I told him plainly, “Maybe if you’d taught your kids respect and safety instead of entitlement, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He hung up without another word.
The next day, Adrian showed me a text from Tyler: “Your mom’s insane.” I just laughed. No, I’m not insane I’m just not raising spoiled kids who think the rules don’t apply to them. They came into my house expecting the world to revolve around them. Instead, they left with their first real taste of consequences.
