I wrote a post a while back about a neighbor's child who was friends with my kids. Now, I don't know how to handle a new situation. Basically, I have made it a point not to allow ds2 to visit with this neighbor unless ds1 is willing to go as well. I just heard something that concerns me though. The neighbor's child is trying to get ds2 to leave our backyard and go to his. I just sent ds1 out to play with ds2 because I don't want to cut ds2's playtime short just because of this. How should I address this? I really don't want to cause problems, but if he continues to try to lure ds2 out of our yard and keeps trying to manipulate ds2 to do things he's not suppsoed to, I am going to have to address this situation. Another issue is that this kid is basically the only person outside our family that ds2 talks to. I hate to take away the one person he is willing to speak to that isn't family, but I can't keep allowing this child to get ds2 to break the rules. Ds2 says he understands that he has to be responsible for any rule he breaks even when other people are trying to convince him to break them, but I'm not sure if he REALLY understands that just because this child is older he doesn't have any authority.
OK, I realize that this child is lonely and wants to play with ds, but it seems like he only wants to play with ds2 who is about 3 yrs. younger than he is. He doesn't seem to want to play with ds1 who is about a year and a half older, and he doesn't really play with dd anymore ever since she told him she wouldn't just do what he wanted. So basically, my paranoid brain is assuming that he only wants to play with kids he can control. Since the older two of my kids have proven that they cannot be controlled, he has limited his play time to being primarily with the 4 yr. old who is easier to control.
What would you do?
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