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Cb says
I’ve also got a crowd coming on Sunday. It’s my son’s birthday and he’s requested a feast which involves roast chicken and potatoes. I have a small oven, can I roast the potatoes and the night before and reheat?
AwayEmily says
What about parboiling them so they’re 90% cooked, then sticking them in a hot oven for like 15 minutes while the chicken rests?
Anon says
+1. I always parboil mine anyway because it makes the outside extra crispy and delicious.
Anonymous says
You can, but they won’t have the same texture. How does he feel about mashed potatoes. Those reheat nicely.
Anonymous says
I vote yes- but you could also roast them together if your pan is big enough.
avocado says
Roast the potatoes in the same pan as the chicken! I use Ina Garten’s roast chicken recipe and add a bunch of new potatoes, cutting the larger ones in half. They cook in the chicken drippings with the onions and carrots and taste absolutely divine. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-roast-chicken-recipe-1940592
Cb says
Ah that’s a good idea and I could do a separate stash for the vegetarian (who is just getting potatoes and salad – luckily he’s married to me)
Anon says
That’s hilarious and you’re a good mom. I have a July birthday and I still recall the year that I was at a fair and found a baked potato vendor, but at least we didn’t have to cook them in the house!
Cb says
Ha! Outlandish food requests are his thing. We were at my parents this summer (southern Europe) and he convinced them to buy him one of those massive seafood platters, fish wit the heads still on, squid, pickled octopus.
anon says
Talk to me about the maturity changes that occur from 5 to 6 if anything stood out to you. It seems like there’s a lot of hestiation to diagnose or medicate for ADHD before age 6. My son is 5 and about to start kindergarten. He doesn’t seem particularly inattentive to me, but his energy level and hyperactivity seem off the charts especially when compared to other peers his age. He did have a formal diagnosis of the combined type when he was 4, but we’ve discussed here that it’s just not always accurate at that age since so much of it is based on just parent and teacher responses. He’s loud, full of energy, and lacks impulse control particularly when tired or hungry. it seems to improve every year, but seems to lag behind his peers. Should I push for medication in kindergarten so that he has the best chance of socially adjusting? He hasn’t seemed to have trouble making friends in pre-k, but I do worry how he’ll do in kindergarten.
Anon says
I’d wait to see how kindergarten goes. But I’d also make sure he gets exercise every morning before school to set him up for success and speak with his teacher so there’s an open line of communication about how he’s actually doing in class.
If you do decide to medicate, it would be good to have a behavior baseline before starting meds so you can see whether they help and get feedback from his teacher. I also don’t love too many life changes in the same few months–starting kindergarten can be a tough transition for many kids and dealing with medication adjustments on top of school adjustments seems like a lot for a little kid.
anon says
I’ll add that a lot of kindergarteners (including ones with no diagnosed issues) don’t really settle in until after the holiday break, so unless things are really off the rails and he can’t function in the classroom, I’d reconsider how he’s doing at the end of January.
OP says
what kind of exercise is most helpful to do quickly in the morning? We have to dropoff at 730 for kinder, so he goes to bed at 7, usually up around 6 to 630, then we eat breakfast and change and there is some down time in there because he is up early and I dont feel like we need to rush to leave around 7:20.
Anonymous says
Running around outside or riding a bike.
Anonymous says
Grain of salt because my DD doesn’t have the same needs, but if she has extra time in the mornings, we love to have dance parties.
anon says
Biking or walking to school (if feasible), playground time at school before it starts, backyard trampoline, etc. Whatever is available. My mom used to even have my brother run laps around the house and he’d get a treat in his lunch for getting a personal best time.
Anon says
Walking or biking to school is the easiest way.
Anonymous says
This is what we do year round. Our boys do so much better if they get a 15 minute walk outside before school and a half hour in the garden in the evenings.
Anon says
Mine had huge maturity leaps from 5 (winter of pre-K) to 6 (winter of K). She’s still a chatterbox who struggles with sitting still and not interrupting, so ADHD is on our radar but the difference in her ability to regulate her emotions and respect others’ personal space has been huge. She loved kindergarten and thrived there.
I wouldn’t worry about him having friends, especially if he had friends in pre-K. In my experience at this age kids love the “class clown” types and it’s usually the very quiet kids who are the most socially isolated.
Anon says
+1. Huge shift in kid behavior around mid kindergarten for us. Her issues were mostly emotional and crying when she didn’t get her exact way. Also did struggle to sit still. The teacher even commented she had a major leap in maturity. K is a huge transition even for kids who have been in preschool and prek. A lot more is expected of them.
AwayEmily says
+1 Big change for us, too. I posted here the summer before K about my then-5-year-old’s huuuuge feelings, overreactions, and anxiety. A year later, he is almost a different kid. He’s still got lots of quirks and worries but he is happily going to summer camp, able to react without screaming when his sister bugs him, and is just generally so much more level. It’s definitely nothing we did — just the developmental shifts. I had a talk with his K teacher in the spring and she said there’s just such variation in when those regulation skills kick in for different kids, and it’s wild to see it happen over the course of the kindergarten year.
Anon says
I would also wait and see how K goes. Your description sounds a lot like my oldest. He has no diagnosis but we may be pursing one soon…he also is good with time management and attentiveness (he’s been able to get himself ready in the morning since he was 4) but he is super loud, impulsive, fidgety, aggressive, etc.
That said, while he is still a HANDFUL at home and in unstructured social settings at age 9, he does very well at school and for other authority figures. Teachers have commented to me what a delight he is, and his religious ed teacher last year told me I should write a parenting book because he’s “a delightful young man and you must be doing something right” (!!!) (If you were in my house this morning you would not think so.)
To your question, a LOT of maturity happens every year in grade school, especially with young boys (I have three). My middle has a diagnosis of ADHD (he’s almost 7), but again we are taking a wait and see approach on meds, and working on parent training strategies for behaviors at home .
TheElms says
I’m curious about this too. We have a provisional diagnosis of ADHD combined type at 4 (since the place we went to won’t formally diagnose until 5) and we are going back this fall now that kiddo is 5. PK4 was hard and there were a lot of challenges and a lot of calls from the school. We’re moving onto Kindergarten because our school says academically kiddo is ready. But school is concerned that kiddo lacks the attention span to learn to read/write.
Exercise in the morning is a double edged sword because kiddo is apt to get overtired later in the day (doesn’t have a great sense of limits and only goes at 1000%) and then struggles with emotional regulation significantly. And it gets her really amped up and then its hard to get in the car to drive to school.
I guess fingers crossed it is ok and if not I guess we can always pull her and try again next year.
anon says
My kid was diagnosed at 5.5 (fall of K) and we started her meds as soon as she turned 6 (the youngest anyone around here will prescribe ADHD meds). At 7, she is still much more impulsive and has more struggles with emotional regulation than her peers, but since we got her medication sorted out she’s been able to make friends at school and we sometimes get reports that she’s calm in class rather than weekly calls home because she’s been exceptionally disruptive which was what happened the first half of K. So I guess in my experience it’s pretty noticeable when a kid is outside the “normal” range of impulsive or energetic in a K classroom, and if that is true for your kid it’s worth pursuing meds.
Anonymous says
So we are holding my 5yo back from kindergarten for this reason. He does fine in a group setting but just needs tons of exercise. Let’s stop viewing high energy as bad. High energy means my kid swims very well at 5 and is the fastest kid in any sports class and can hike 3 miles. Please do not medicate the energy out of your child just to make him more compliant. This is a really sad part of our society to me. I know a lot of people on this board Medicate their kids but it seems like in the past 20 years there’s been a HUGE societal shift from “5yos have energy” to “If a 5yo is hyper we need to medicate it out of them”. Another alternative is sending your child to a private all-boys school that tends to know how to handle and harness the energy (I.e. 3 recesses a day in kindergarten).
OP says
Thank you for this. I struggle with this a lot too to see his energy level in positive ways and that comment about sports and hiking and swimming resonated with me, because he is the same way. It’s like all my parent friends (myself included many days) would rather have a calm, obedient, chill child, which I get is likely easier in the parenting journey, but it is a shift in our western society. My parents grew up in a different culture where “boys being boys” is MUCH more tolerated.
Anonymous says
Yes to all of this. It’s the same with melatonin gummies and sleep, IMHO. There’s such an unwillingness to address the root of the problem, which could be any number of things from exercise to time outside, etc.
Anonymous says
Yup, pretty much. I have big feelings about all these topics. We really do have an all boys school by our house that takes them out 3 times a day and just generally tolerates “boy behavior”.
Anonymous says
This is one of the many reasons we need single-sex education to be widely available through about eighth grade. I think it’s most beneficial in the early grades when girls can benefit most from a more orderly environment and a faster pace of instruction, and that in high school and college girls should be learning to compete directly with boys.
Anon says
Ugh I really don’t like that kind of gender stereotyping. I have a high energy, possibly ADHD/possibly just high strung girl who is bright and did great in K both academically and socially, but she has always been rowdier than a bunch of the boys in her class (some of whom are remarkably calm and more sedate than even the most well-behaved girls!). I believe that on average maybe girls are calmer than boys at this age, but there are lots of kids who don’t fit that gender stereotype and single sex education seems like it would just make things harder for all the kids who don’t conform to the stereotypes. And also lots of the rowdy boys are smart and still need a fast pace of instruction.
Anonymous says
I don’t medicate my 6yo’s ADHD to make her more compliant. Medicating her doesn’t take down her energy level either–she will hike 10 miles and then still have tons to energy to run half a mile to a restaurant for dinner. I also don’t medicate her to make her sit still at a desk in in K; she loves worksheets and will happily sit and hyperfocus on them at the expense of anything else. Instead, I medicate her because it makes her happier with her life. Her meds take down her impulsivity a notch and let her take a breath before immediately reacting to situations, giving time for her actual thinking / deliberate brain kick in. With meds she’s able to learn how to deal with being bumped by a classmate while lining up to go to lunch without flying into a fit of rage and smacking him in the face. She doesn’t want to be incredibly reactive and impulsive all the time, but all the therapy and strategies in the world can’t help when she physically just can’t get her brain to take that 3 seconds to pause before reacting. Medication gives her that pause.
Anon says
This. 1000% this. Same same for my incoming second grader. We medicate so her brain gives her that pause before making decisions, and then we give her all kinds of scaffolding so her brain knows what other choices she can make.
Anon says
On the other hand, our public school had 3 recesses a day in K, and in general seems to have *much* lower expectations for 5 year old behavior than our private preschool did. We got near-daily complaints about our daughter’s behavior in her final year of pre-K to the point that we would have considered holding her back if her birthday was closer to the cutoff, but she was born almost 6 months before the cutoff and we basically had no choice but to send her, so we did. When we asked the kindergarten teacher in October or so if our daughter’s behavior was causing any problems in class her reaction was basically “what?! She’s so well-behaved and is a complete joy to have in class.” Yes, my kid grew up and matured but I know her behavior didn’t change that much in that short amount of time. The K teacher just had way more realistic expectations for 5 year olds. So based on that experience, I would not choose private school over public for a high energy, possibly ADHD 5 year old.
OP, my guess is kindergarten will be completely fine. Good teachers know 5 year olds have lots of energy. They chose this age group knowing what kids this age are like. People who want less zany kids teach second or third grade. If it’s not fine, you can cross that bridge when you come to it, but there’s no need to borrow trouble.
Anon says
We just sent our kids to a sleep away camp for a week for the first time and it’s been the best thing for our marriage. We had long relaxing dinners every night and were actually able to reconnect without being stressed about getting home for a sitter or other kid stress. Date nights just aren’t the same, as it’s not really enough time for us to unplug from parenting. Hopefully the kids had a fabulous time and we can do this every year, as it felt like such a huge win for everyone.
(We don’t have family to watch the kids so this was our longest time–a whole 5 nights–without kids in almost 11 years.)
Anonymous says
I am a huge proponent of summer camp for this reason, because it builds independence, and because it is one of the most fun experiences a kid can ever have.
Anon says
+1. Pregnant with my first and sleepaway camp is one of the things I’m most excited for our kid to experience. It’s the rare kid who doesn’t have a great time.
Anon says
Me. 🙋🏻♀️ it wasn’t an independence issue. I was a very independent kid who flew alone at a young age, got my drivers license the day I turned 16, etc., I just am not an outdoorsy person so I didn’t like camp until I was old enough to go to niche academic and sports camps and even then it was just ok, not a life-changing experience. We’ll send our daughter if she asks but it’s not something we plan to push on her and sleepaway camps isn’t very common where we live (Midwest) so I doubt it will be on her radar.
(We have local grandparents who can babysit though. I do agree it’s amazing for parents who haven’t gotten a break, like OP.)
Anon says
Your experience is your own, but it’s not really necessary to chime in with the negativity when someone says they’re most excited about something.
Anon says
I was responding to “it’s the rare kid who doesn’t have a great time” at sleepaway camp. I don’t agree, and it’s not just my personal experience. I know plenty of others who didn’t love sleepaway camp. It’s great if she’s excited to send her kids, that’s her own choice to make.
anon says
OP here, we camp and backpack a lot as a family and my kids love it, so I’m not worried about the outdoorsy nature of the camps at all. They also picked out camps that correspond to their interests, so I’m very hopeful that they had a great week. It’s also not like we sent them against their will–they had tons of input into picking out a camp theme that sounded fun to them.
Anon says
OP, it was not a criticism of you and sorry if it came off that way. It sounds like camp is a great thing for your family as it is for many families. I just think it’s a little naive to be sure – before you even give birth to your first baby! – that your kids will go to sleepaway camp. Kids have different personalities and it’s really not that rare (or problematic) for kids to not want to go.
Anon says
It’s not naive – it’s positive and looking forward to something that will very likely work out and be fun. I’m sure you didn’t need to hear “well some babies hate Christmas” if you expressed excitement about baby’s first Christmas in your pregnancy.
Nope says
Me too. I did two week-long specialty camps in high school but otherwise sleep away camp wasn’t in my orbit and wasn’t something I would have pushed for as a quiet introvert.
7-week sleep away camp is huge in my area, but my kids have not been interested. I’ve seen kids thrive and I’ve also seen others not love it.
I can see the appeal for kids and parents but I do think it’s worth pushing back on the idea that all kids will naturally love it.
Anon says
Come on, Christmas and camp are not the same thing. Sometimes babies cry about new experiences or meeting new people but I’ve never met an actual child (whose family celebrates) who hates Christmas. It’s reasonable to point out that a very substantial portion of children don’t want to go away to camp, and won’t enjoy it if they’re sent against their will. And there’s nothing wrong with those kids – people are allowed to have different personalities and not every personality is suited for sleepaway camp.
Anon says
I think this is a huge generalization. There are plenty of totally normal kids who do not enjoy sleep away camp. I would not consider it “rare”.
But there are also plenty of totally normal kids who LOVE sleepaway camp, so hopefully your kid will love it as much as you do!
Anon says
And often they exist in the same family! I did one night at camp my whole life and never wanted to go again; my sisters both happily did a week every summer
Anonymous says
+1 I had zero interest in overnight camp and my parents wanted me to go. Neither of my kids wants to go either.
Anonymous says
What age do you all recommend starting sleep away camp? Thanks!
Anon says
I think it depends on how enthusiastic they are. Most overnight camps don’t take kids younger than 7, and I’d only send a kid at 7 if they were begging to go. 8-9 is more typical. Personally we’re waiting until my kid ages out of local day camps, which is 11-12. It just seems easier and more convenient to do day camp while it’s an option.
Anonymous says
Sleepaway camp is always easier and more convenient for me than day camps with odd drop-off and pickup times. Bonus points if they can go for 2 weeks or more at a time.
anon says
agreed, my oldest was begging to go for years, so we sent her for a week just after age 8 and she’s gone for longer every year since then. She is an extrovert and loves everything about camp, leads color war, and throws herself into all the activities. But I am glad we did not send her at 7; I think that would have been too young (for us/our kid, not making a judgment on anyone who sends their kid at 7).
My next daughter is more of a homebody and didn’t want to go until 9 1/2, at which point she went reluctantly for 3 days and then was super sad she didn’t go longer – she doesn’t “do” as much at camp as my oldest but will work patiently in the craft house for hours or take a paddleboard out to the middle of the lake, and looks forward to going back every year.
I am not sure what the third child will do – she will be 8 next summer and hasn’t decided if she wants to go or wait a year. I am guessing she will go because her sisters and their friends will all be at camp and she won’t want to miss out, even if otherwise she wouldn’t be quite ready.
Anon says
Yeah I can see the convenience point. Day camp is a lot cheaper though, and for now (early elementary) she wants to be with her friends who all do day camp. I expect my kid will go to camp eventually, I’m just not in a huge rush. I went to camps in middle and high school and had a positive experience, but I also have lots of wonderful summer memories that aren’t from camp and childhood is short so I don’t feel the need to rush . There are lots of other ways to foster independent, capable kids besides camp.
Anonymous says
My daughter started attending camp at age 6 at her own request and had an amazing time, but I think she’s an outlier. 8 is a good age. If my daughter had hit age 10 without trying camp at least once I’d have required her to try it.
anon says
I think rising 3rd to rising 6th is pretty common, depending on the kid and their interest and maturity. I do think it may be a bit easier for a kid to try sleep away camp before they are in middle school and they start to get more self conscious, as that can make it feel harder to make friends.
Anon says
Re: not fitting in if you don’t start until middle school, I think that’s true if you’re talking about the traditional camps where many kids are third or fourth generation campers and families send their kids every summer from ages 7-17.
But there are lots of options for camps that don’t fit that mold and cater to older kids or kids who won’t return year after year. Almost no one goes to Space Camp more than once or twice, and camps for bright gifted/kids like CTY or camps built around a specific music, sports or arts interest mainly attract middle and high schoolers because kids don’t specialize in instruments and sports until 5th or 6th grade. There’s also the option to go to an overnight camp locally where you already have a built in social network. Most universities run camps for kids where you stay in the dorms and take classes on campus. I did that and it was great.
Anon says
Is there an inexpensive place to get matching mom-and-me outfits? My 3 yo daughter likes to match, but she’s also kind of picky about her clothes, and I don’t want to spend a ton of money on what is kind of a gimmick.
Anon says
I got some really cute mom and me dresses from J Crew. I think J Crew Factory has them too at a cheaper price point.
Hanna and Primary for matching PJs.
People will probably say Old Navy but I never liked their selections.
Anonymous says
Old Navy has coordinating outfits.
Anon says
Target also has matching stuff, I think mostly pajamas. Rufflebutts has family matching clothes as well, but it’s mostly swim.
Mary Moo Cow says
I’ve gotten some from J.Crew Factory and been able to hand them down to my younger child or another family, if that helps lessen the price sting.
Anon says
Princess Awesome has some fun matching dresses at a low price point.
strollerstrike says
Ok, I am about to host my first kid’s birthday party after moving to the US from Germany. We have not been to a birthday party here, so I am a bit lost. DS is turning 5. Six kids are invited, 3 pm party. What – if any – activities are usually offered? Party games? Lawn games? Or are kids usually left to roam around?
anon says
The best 5 yo birthday party I hosted had four options for activities for kids to do while they roamed with no planned activities. It was basically set up like a play based preschool. We had a veterinarian theme, but you could do the same concept with themes from dinosaurs to super heros to anything.
Station 1: Playing pretend. Doctor kits with lab coats and storage containers from our basement as exam tables. Kids took turns pretending to be the veterinarian and bringing their pet for a checkup. I pulled out a few clipboards and printed out exam charts from pinterest for kids to fill out.
Station 2: Pet agility course with tunnels and jumps. Kids (with their stuffed animals) could do the obstacle course.
Station 3: Arts and crafts to make a pet collar from pipe cleaners, beads and shrinky dink tags for their stuffy.
Station 4: Our backyard swing set with a “Pet Hotel” sign for the fort portion
Kids just floated around doing whatever they wanted. Some played pretend the whole time. Others did arts and crafts. It was really chill and everyone was happy. We eventually gathered everyone for singing and cake.
Anonymous says
So I’m fine with my house getting wrecked with kids toys so when we’ve had home parties I do not set up activities and the kids just play in our house/yard. For summer parties I set up LOTS of water stuff (backyard pool, slip and slide, water table, refillable water balloons). We also have a swing set.
Mary Moo Cow says
For that age, I think the ideal is a mix of structure and roaming: something to gather the kids and signal that the party is starting, and then some time for them to roam so parents can chat with each other, and gather at the end for cake to signal the party is over. Both my kids loved a pinata at age 5; pass the parcel is popular now, thanks to Bluey, A craft can be hit-or-miss as some kids love it and some kids loathe it, but if you know your audience, or your kid likes crafts, a craft kit like mondo llama or creatology can be a good activity (and then the kids can run around while it dries.)
Not that you asked, but I’ve been to a few birthday parties for a family who moved to the US and everyone was delighted when the party ended with a traditional activity from their home country. It was a neat icebreaker for parents and you could just see the birthday girl was so proud to share something she missed about her old home. So if there’s something you want to share, something that would make you feel a bit less lost, do it!
Anon says
House birthday parties I’ve gone to have a craft table and an activity like a piñata. Have snacks, food for a meal like pizza, and a cake or cupcakes too.
Anon says
Most summer birthdays we’ve attended in homes involve water play. Unless you live in Alaska, it’s probably going to be quite hot at 3 pm in August, right? Water table works if that’s what you’ve got, but an inflatable waterslide is absolutely perfect for that age group. We bought one in 2020 for a few hundred bucks and have found it to be an excellent investment. You may also be able to borrow one from a friend or neighbor; we’ve loaned ours to a dozen or so people for parties.
Anonymous says
One of my biggest wishes is to rent an adult-sized inflatable water slide for an all-ages party.
Anon says
Do it! That sounds super fun. Our slide is fairly small but adults can use it. I think you can rent really giant ones for not that much money.
Anonymous says
Gut check. My younger SIL recently asked us to keep her small dog for a week while she was on vacation. The dog was a PITA. He stained our couch pillows, p00ped on the carpet, demanded to sleep in bed with humans which is an absolute no in our house, kept us up all night scratching at the door, and annoyed our own very calm large dog. Now she is asking us to take the dog for another week while she goes on another vacation. My husband says we have no choice but to say yes. I say we should tell her the truth about what happened last time and explain that the dog is just not happy here and needs to go to the kennel or to someone he knows better. I have a lot of resentment of this SIL because she tends to ask us to do and give her a lot of stuff and never even thanks us. For example, we loaned her our painting supplies and she gave us back a box of trash with all the rollers, trays, brushes, and other non-consumable supplies missing. At family events she kicks back with a beverage and expects everyone else to keep her poorly disciplined children from falling into the pool. She seems to think she’s entitled to a lot of help because she is younger than we are and is a SAHM. She appears to believe that we have far more time and money than she does, despite the fact that she has nicer cars and a bigger house and doesn’t have a job. For reference, we board our dog at a kennel whenever we travel. WWYD?
Anon says
No of course you don’t have to take the dog! That’s crazy. My parents watch our small dog when we travel but she doesn’t poop in the house! And we’re super appreciative and definitely don’t take it for granted.
Anon says
You can say no. But don’t talk about all her negative qualities when you discuss this with your husband. It sounds judgmental, like you dislike her as a person, rather than seeing her as a family member and flawed human being worthy of your courtesy. Focus on the disruption to your house and family. Maybe have a couple kennels to suggest that you’ve used when you or your husband say no to take the sting out and point her to another option.
OP says
FWIW, my husband is the one who said “I feel used” when she asked him if we could take the dog again.
I am trying very hard to remember “Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” But one interpretation of that passage is that the point of going the second mile is to have the second mile get noticed and questioned. Grrrrrrr.
Anon says
Yeah, I wouldn’t take the dog but this post is dripping with judgment for her.
Fwiw, we have a small dog who needs to sleep in bed with a person and will howl outside the door all night if she isn’t let in the bedroom. I don’t think that alone makes her a bad dog owner. But she absolutely has to disclose that fact upfront to anyone who’s considering watching the dog. We explain this to every potential dog sitter and some people decline to take our dog, which is totally their prerogative.
anon says
Oh heck no. You tried it, and it didn’t work. Sister’s dog can go to a kennel or she can get a housesitter.
Anonymous says
You politely decline. “We tried our best, but your dog was anxious during his stay. We think he would be happier elsewhere.”
anon says
I would NOT take the dog.
Mary Moo Cow says
You DO have a choice, it’s just an uncomfortable one. I would be polite but firm that her dog does not do well at your house. It sounds like you pretended everything was fine last time (if she even asked) so it is going to be more awkward, but maybe start the response by saying something like “I’m so sorry, but we can’t have Doggo this time. We didn’t want to bring it up last time, but Doggo was not happy here: he scratched at the door, had accidents in the house, and didn’t get on very well with The Very Good Boy. Sorry, but we can’t do it again. We take The Very Good Boy to this kennel, and he’s always happy there, if you want a place that’s been vetted.”
OP says
I like this script–thanks. Yes, last time we didn’t mention the dog’s behavior and she didn’t ask. We didn’t mention it because we thought it would come across as a guilt trip, but in hindsight I think we should have said something.
Anon says
No way on earth. You don’t have to take the dog. I’d have no issue saying no to my own sister, why can’t your DH
Anonymous says
I would skip all of the rehashing of grievances and saga and just say “no we can’t watch your dog, it’s just too much work for us”
Anon says
+1 or just say you’re busy at this time.
Anonymous says
Just say no. We asked my brother to watch our cat one time, and while they didn’t say it outright, it was pretty clear they didn’t want to do it again. Now we use a cat sitter we found on rover and everyone is happier. Honestly she’ll probably be offended but do you really want to sign up to watch this dog for every vacation she ever goes on?