I love Facebook fights. The most fun ones to follow are on the HOA page.

Growing up on Long Island, we didn’t have HOAs (Home Owners Associations), everyone just lived on the block and did what they wanted with their own property.

I personally prefer living in a neighborhood with an HOA because I like guidelines.

Anyway, HOAs have HOA Facebook pages. These fights are always the best because you usually know the parties involved, but you get to see what they’re really like when someone messes with their personal property.

It’s where my poop station saga went down and now we’re convinced the whole neighborhood refers to me as the crazy poop station lady. Do I care? No, I do not.

The most recent HOA fight was between two people who live across the street from one another.

Awkwarrrrdddd.

At least my fights were relegated to social media. The main culprit lived across the neighborhood from me. The most he ever did was drive by my house in his golf cart and give the finger to the side of my house. We didn’t see him, but the neighbor’s kids did. Oh yeah, and once he drove past while he was drunk and yelled, “Fuck you poop station!” This was when we decided he was referring to me. We added the “crazy lady” part ourselves.

Anyway, in this latest HOA fight, the question was raised about people “needing to parent their children.” I’m not going into detail, but I promise I wasn’t involved this time.

The “people need to parent their children” comment was made by a guy who doesn’t have kids and seems quite angry to have moved into a neighborhood where 98% of the homes contain a bunch of rugrats. I think he’s secretly just mad at himself for making poor choices.

However, it did make me examine the “parenting of my children.”

Once again, I shall raise my hand, bend it over my shoulder, and give myself a big pat on the back.

I might be a lot of things – Crazy Poop Station Lady being one of them, but I am a damn good mother.

Here’s one proven example:

My youngest has always done well in school. It comes naturally to him. (I am not trying to brag here and make it sound like he gets it from me. I couldn’t tell time until after 3rd grade and PJ says I still can’t.)

When I saw him getting a little too big for the ol’ britches and treating his brothers like he was smarter than them, I made sure to let him know every. single. time. that he might have the biggest brain in the room, but no one will want to be around him if he acts like it.

One time in the school drop-off line, he told me about some little asshole girl that said kids who weren’t in the special class they were in were dumb —- right in front of a boy who wasn’t in that special class!

My response: “Well she’s the friggin worst. She might be smart, but it’s her personality that will make others want to be around her. People are successful in life because of how they treat others, not because of a test score.”

After that, whenever I heard him speaking condescendingly to his brothers, I’d say, “You’re acting like *******” and he would stop immediately.

Fast forward to now and he doesn’t act like that anymore. He’s not perfect – as no one is – but I never hear him talking down to people.

I mean… he might be a total jerk in school and no one tells me, but I have a feeling he’s basically just a good kid. That is a huge parenting win in my book.