annoying cousin

[Athena Appleton]

Just be grateful yours lives across the country! I have about a jillion cousins, and they all live within about four hours of me. It's great... really....

As you know, I have the world's worst person as my sister-in-law, and whenever she comes to visit, she has to be entertained at all times, and that's no easy job. First of all, she's thirteen, she should be able to occupy herself for a few hours without my help. Second of all, if it doesn't plug into the wall, it's not fun, so going swimming, going to the zoo (zoos are cool for taking my two kids, she could go with us), having a picnic, taking a walk, reading a book... all of that is no fun. Third of all, the WHOLE FREAKING TIME she's here she's bored, and makes me feel like dirt because we live in a small country town (she's from Memphis). So I hear a refrain of "There's nothing to do here!!!" over and over again, which is particularly fun to deal with when I'm changing diapers and thinking to myself, "I could think of something for you to do!"

Anyway, there was a point to this.

I would have to agree with what pallas said, minus any swear words (any therapist would tell you that using swear words in that kind of situation will only make the other person worse). Last time the devil was here, I woke her up at 8:30 (she was sleeping on the couch) because I wasn't about to tiptoe around my own house and try to have my 1- and 2-year-olds be quiet so Miss Queen could sleep until noon. She had a few swear words to say to me about it, but oh well... Anyway, after I didn't back down for a few days, things actually got a little better, then she left, and things got a LOT better

[harrylover]

I have got 6 little cousins between 4 and 8 years old. I don´t see them very often but they are soooo annoying. Ron knows what I´m talking about. "I want to play this...", "No, let´s play that..."
And ron and I have to entertain them for hours and I have to hide behind bushes and trees and under sofa´s and somewhere in the cellar because they want to play hide-and-seek. It´s really stressing. I think everybody has relatives he doesn´t really like.

[Athena Appleton]

When I was growing up, there was me, my two sisters, and five cousins, all within about five or six years, and we had to be together a LOT. It was kinda fun, it was far back enough that we walked to the neighborhood park by ourselves, but we fought all the time.

James was the oldest, and the only boy (my grandpa used to tell us a bedtime story that started out "Once upon a time there were seven beautiful little girls, and one ugly boy" ), and he was, and still is, very much the protector.

I was next, and somehow I managed to be bossy and yet completely left out of everything at the same time. I also felt very in charge of everyone.

Joy and Becca were together all the time, and they were the noisemakers. They gave me a headache.

Carmen was the trouble-maker. We're not really that sure of what she looked like between the ages of four and seven, because she was sent to her room all the time. She's now the female-puppy-dog of the whole group, the one who got married two years after marrying the first time (she openly cheated on her husband), didn't come to Christmas because she had made an appointment to get her portraits taken, and sent us all (even the ones she hasn't talked to in years, even when we see her) invitations with a card inside saying that since she already had all the traditional wedding gifts (of course she did, we gave them to her two years earlier), what she and her new husband "needed" was for people to go to a website and donate money for their honeymoon. Needless to say, we declined the offer.

Jessica was the cool one (she always had the side ponytail, the two pairs of different neon-colored layered slouch socks, and the big bangs.) Cassie was the crybaby when she was little, and now she's kind of the cool bored one. Laci kinda got lost in the mix, and she still kind of does.

Now there's another one (another girl! James was thrilled), but she's six months younger than my oldest son, so she's kind of in another generation. But she's a smart little thing, and she definately rules the boys (there are five boys and her, all around the same ages).

My saintly grandparents used to take us all (yup, at the same time) for a week twice a year, and we had a ball, but I definately remember lots of fights, too. Also, the whole family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody) would get together on, like, a monthly basis, and anytime we came out of the playroom saying "Mo-om, guess what so-and-so did!" they would just answer "Are you bleeding?" We'd say "no." "Is anyone in there bleeding or unconcious?" "No." "Then go back in there and deal with it yourself."

It gets better when you're older and you can decide who you want to talk to and spend time with. I'm glad I had the opportunity to grow up with my cousins, but I guess I could also see how some folks really wouldn't care for that.

[harrylover]

That´s cool athena.

I know for the little ones it is a fantastic time but for the older ones it is horrible.

[Athena Appleton]

Yeah, I guess so, but it depends on your family dynamic, and also the age difference and genders, I think...

The only two cousins I really like are 13 and 11 year old boys who live 12 hours from me... but when they were born, they were more like little brothers...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if it's annoying at times right now, I think it's a good thing to get to know your family (cousins included) when you're young.

[pinky p]

i have 5 cousins that live right in town and i see them all the time. we used to do stuff together all the time when we were little... christmas dinners, thanksgiving, new years, easter, the works, plus green bay packers parties of course!

kristen is the oldest she and lindsey, the second oldest, are both much older then the rest of us. i remember once when we were at a family reunion they wanted to talk but we wouldn't leave them alone so they locked themselves in a car to keep us away!

eric is a few years younger then kristen and lindsey. he used to be really big into tae kwon do, so we would always have pretend fights (eric vs. everyone else) and he would flip us to the ground

my sister is two years younger then eric, and kale and anna are a year younger then her, and i'm a year younger then them. kale and eric (the only boys) used to take g.i. joes and parachute them down the laundry chute whenever we were at my grandparent''s house. fun stuff!

sierra, anna, and i, the three younger girls (me being the youngest in the family!) used to always have sleepovers at my grandparent's house after family get togethers. we would pretend we were tigers and crawl around the house because we were being chased by hunters (invisible, of course.)

i think they all used to get pretty tired of me, because i was the youngest and i always wanted to play monopoly (because i would always get help from grandma and win! )

we used to have tons of fun times together, and i hope that when we grow up our kids will see each other a lot too, since all the families in our generation are pretty small and there's nothing like a big bunch of cousins playing together!

[Athena Appleton]

hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Now that sounds fun!

[harrylover]

Sounds great pinky p.

One of my cousins, her name is nina, is really wild and everything. Last winter when we were ice skating she always took away the toy of a younger child. (she is 8) Her mother said she shopuld stop that but nina didn´t want to listen so her mother took her away from the ice. Nina got so furious and she shouted at her mother (I didn´t know such swear words before!!!!!!!) and then she smashed a window!!!!

My father is always calling her ninja instead of nina!!

[pinky p]

she sounds like an.... interesting child

[harrylover]

Yeah she is really interesting...especially when she jumps onto your back ripping your hair out...

[pinky p]

well atleast she isn't your sister, so you don't have to live with her! jumping on me and pinching me sounds like something my (older) sister would have done when we were little. ah yes, pinching, the timeless pastime.