This all stemmed from the usual straight out of school pestering to have a sleepover despite being told that advance warning is always necessary.
Anyway, after a firm no but a play is fine he and his pal continued to pester and pester me. Still a firm but exasperated no. I was then chatting to two other Mums and they come up again and pester. I'm getting quite cross now but repeated no several times and told them not to interrupt.
When we were finally walking home, they told me that pal's Mum said it was ok to have a sleepover at pal's house, despite the original question being if they could a sleepover at mine. I asked how they knew that when she wasn't at the school gate and they said she said it was ok when they asked her. I got cross again with DS saying that he knows he is not supposed to put Mum's on the spot by inviting himself because it's rude and he should wait to be asked and anyway I'd heard nothing from the Mum so surely she would have mentioned it if it was ok.
Upshot was, pal was going home to ask his Mum and she was going to text me. That was ages ago and I've heard nothing so kinda proves my point that they were at it. However I gave DS a bit of a ticking off about it and how fed up I was at being pestered when I had already said no and he knows he's not to spring such arrangements straight out of school without checking first.
He got a bit quiet and then dropped the bombshell that I shout too much and he overheard two boys in the cloakroom saying they don't like coming to my house to play footie because I shout too much. So he has stopped asking pals to play (even in the street or park where I wouldn't even be there) because he's scared they will say no. He said he didn't know which two boys it was which is the bit I find hard to believe because their cloakrooms are small and he would surely have known who it was.
I do shout a lot and I hate it but it's mainly exasperation at continually repeating myself to no avail. He said I shout too much on school trips coz I'm telling kids to hurry up (they were dawdling way behind, in a wood, near a dangerous cliff and I wanted them to keep together).
I shouted the other day to go round the back which is always open because they ring the doorbell at the front and I'd only just sat down on my ass to have a cuppa after being on my feet all day.
Sorry for long rant, I'd hate to think kids never came here because I was too shouty. Generally if any pals do something amiss I'd just tell them not to and they usually do as they are told. I don't shout at other kids, just my own coz I figure aged ten they should know the rules by now so it's not like I shout without reason. Feeling crap now.