A Flopper?

The word "flopper" in soccer describes someone who, if they get bumped by a player on the opposite team, will throw themselves on the ground and act like they've been horribly injured. This is in hopes of being awarded a penalty kick or a free chance at a goal.

I think Drew is a flopper. I think most kids probably are. One little injury or injustice is a huge deal for them.

Drew and Owen have been getting picked on more than usual lately by their cousin. The cousin does things like crash into Drew and Owen with the four-wheeler (good thing it's not a full size four-wheeler), or push them, or run past them with his arms sticking out like airplane wings and hit them in the head. It's kind of driving me crazy, because he doesn't seem to be held accountable for his actions at all. He gets told "don't do that" and that's all. If his mom isn't in the room and he does something, I don't know what to do because he's not my kid and I think she'd get mad if I doled out some discipline. I want to give the kid a good ol' fashioned spanking, but I know his mom doesn't go for that, so I'd probably just put him in timeout, which is his usual sentence for bad behavior and obviously isn't working. But I don't feel like it's my place to do anything so I don't. (The weird thing is, the cousin doesn't act like that when his parents aren't home; he's much better behaved.)

Here's what I find interesting as far as Drew is concerned: When the cousin does something to Drew while adults are around, Drew will squawk and yell, but gets over it quickly. But when no adults are in the room and the cousin does something do him, Drew freaks out. He lays on the floor and screams and cries and hollers. Of course the cousin doesn't get in trouble because no one knows exactly what he did; he's not telling and Drew won't calm down long enough to speak--not that he can say much, anyway. So I can't figure out what Drew's motive is in making such a racket. I guess just to alert us that some injury or injustice has occurred.