What Do I Do?

I'm not normally one to write about things too personal, but I figure I'd try it and see how it goes.

Today I walked into Sarah's backyard and was greeted by Otis when he firmly planted his paw in my groin. As I walked, doubled-over, back inside I realized I was covered in mud. I told Sarah she should tell the boys not to play with the hose. She said the hose is not near the corner.

Turns out one of the boys or their friend dug a hole in the backyard without permission and broke the sprinkler line. It's unclear if this happened before or after they asked Sarah if they could dig a moat, to which she answered no. Either they disobeyed and dug anyway or didn't ask for permission to radically alter her backyard. Either way, I feel that shows a lack of respect for Sarah.

I'm also dumbfounded by the fact neither Robbie or Cameron thought to tell Mom the backyard was slowly flooding. I'm sure they were afraid of getting in trouble. Again this translates to me as a lack of respect for Sarah. They were more concerned about having the Playstation taken away than causing lots of damage to Sarah's yard.

The lack of respect theme isn't just from these incidents. There was the time Cameron knocked my computer on the floor, the way they treat their toys, their inability to clean up after themselves, one saying he doesn't listen when he is told to do something because he doesn't think he'll get in trouble, etc.

I don't buy the "boys will be boys" story. If we lived by that rule, we would never learn that society has some basic expectations from its members. What do you think? Is it a lack of respect thing? Am I expecting to much from a 9 year old? A 6 year old?