Bee or Wasp?

We are on a trip to Colorado to visit my sisters and Mom. The rule while we are here is that the kids cannot play Xbox or video games at all, unless I say so. Cliff wants the kids to really hang out with their cousins and get to know them a level other than video games. So far, not one of them has complained about being bored.

But, yesterday I allowed them to play my Nintendo Switch for a little bit. Afterward, while Kalena, Jakai, Tahlia, Leilani, Nezhone and myself were playing “Codenames,” Lavea’i came in and told me that Maika and Tula’i were fighting. (They were watching Malakai play Xbox at this point in time) So, I had Lavea’i tell them to come to me so I could determine what the heck they were fighting about. As Maika was walking over, he had his fists clenched and breathing heavily. Tula’i came in crying, holding the back of his shoulder.

I told both of them to sit down and asked them to explain the reasoning behind the fight. But before this, Maika said he wanted to punch Tula’i because he was so angry and Tula’i was also mad. Me being the wonderful, tender Mom that I am, I smacked them both (Maika across the face and Tula’i on the back because he moved his head) and told them that I could beat both of them up if they thought they were so tough.

Mind you, the rest of us are still trying to play the game, so everyone is listening. I allowed Maika to begin explaining first and as soon as he spit out the first sentence of “We were arguing about whether it was a bee or a wasp,” both Nezhone and Kalena started laughing and I began to laugh as well. I stopped him right there and asked them both “Do you know how stupid this is? You are fighting over whether something is a bee or a wasp!” Then Maika said, “ Tula’i called me a turd.” I stopped him right there and pointed out that all of this is happening because you were arguing about if the bug was a bee or a wasp.

I didn’t even let them finish the explanation and told them to sit there and think about this stupid situation. By the time we were done with that round of Codenames, they were still angry with each other, so I took them outside and made them do Mom’s boot camp. They cried through the whole thing and then I told them I was going to make them run 2 miles with me (that made them cry even more). I told them I was going to finish the game first with everyone else and then we would run, but until then they were to sit in the chairs and not say anything.

By the time the game was finished, both had calmed down and were in tears for hurting each other. Didn’t make it on the run because Grandma ended up showing up. So, Grandma saved their bums from running.