I was 13 years old when my first cousin was born. My uncle waited a long time to settle down and even longer to have kids, so I was pretty excited when his wife became pregnant and I was actually going to have cousins. Even if I was a lot older, I was still excited about new family members.
They gave birth to my cousin Kennedy. She was so small and cute and it was the first time I ever really interacted with a baby. A little over a year later, my uncle and his wife gave birth to another little girl and named her Lincoln. Then another year and a half and here came Reagan, their third girl.
I became their regular babysitter, even up the age of 23, making me very close to their three daughters. Then, I started working regularly and being a babysitter wasn't as much fun so for a few years, we saw each other still pretty frequently but not as much.
Then I started dating an amazing woman and my cousins absolutely love her. She is a cosmetologist who is now going to school for fashion and my teenage cousins think she is the coolest. They spend the night with us every once in a while, but a lot during the summers.
Kennedy is now 16, almost 17, and is gorgeous. She is also smart, athletic, and kind of a smart ass to be honest. But I think very highly of her and I see her future as being very bright. She has started dating and became its the summer time and she is over at the house pretty frequently, I get to meet some of the guys she has been on dates with and DAMN.
These guys don't come to the door, they honk. When you walk out to meet them, they are disrespectful and most of the time sit in their car looking at their phones while you are hunched down and trying to introduce yourself through their window. They hardly respect curfews and when called out, they just get mouthy. I know I'm not Kennedy's father, but I am 6'4" and well built. And don't think for one second that I won't pull a punk out of his vehicle by his face, if he gets too disrespectful, with ease.
I talked to Kennedy about this and she said that is how most guys are. I understand girls can develop a type, and I'm wondering if this is just what Kennedy goes for or if she is correct when she says that most of the guys in high school don't have a clue as to how to treat a lady.
It just makes me nervous. Lincoln and Reagan aren't dating yet, but they will be soon. But they don't have to date to be disrespected. The one night they were staying at our house, Lincoln got a Snap Chat from a boy her age asking for "tit shots". What the hell? Lincoln knew where the kid lived, so after a few more sexually harassing snapchats we went to his house and showed his parents what he was up to. They seemed a little pissed that I was telling on him to be honest, but this kid didn't want to stop sending requests for pics of her body, even when he was asked to stop. It's not in my interest to tell on a 15 year old, but if you don't know when to stop I will help you figure it out.
Why aren't people raising their boys to be gentlemen? Why aren't parents monitoring what their kids are doing online and on their phones? Why is it just becoming "the norm" for our daughters to be sex objects and our sons to be punks?
Have any of you encountered this kind of thing? What do you do about it?
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