Wannabefree...guess what I got in the mail today!?!?!?!?

[Wannabefree]

Who Am I - one of my favorite songs by Casting Crowns!

You are Ali I like that song too

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I'm so glad you still have your sense of humor!

 

[Wannabefree]

Yeah well just check back in about a month and see if it's still here We should have 3 more kids and fighting the government tooth and nail by then

 

[rebecca100]

I just got a Casting Crowns cd yesterday I think it was! When dh got his truck a few months ago it was stuck in his cd player! He gave it to me because I like their music and he doesn't at all. I was surprised he even still had it.

 

[moolie]

I got a few things done today not much though I am losing my motivation because these crazies I live with just keep making more and more messes and I can't maintain AND get the other things done that I need to get done!!!!!!! There I said it! Just for ONE week I wish they could pick up after themselves, stop using SO many dang towels, and QUIT being so darn needy for two seconds.

Who are you talking about, your kids? How old are they? I know you have a teenager, but how old are the others?

My kids have always picked up after themselves, from the moment they were able to. The started dressing the parts of their bodies that the could as soon as they could master getting clothes on (e.g. socks, shoes, overalls etc. took longer to master than t-shirts and track pants). They've always made their own beds and kept their own rooms, plus the toy area when they were younger, tidy. They've each got their own glass of water since they could turn on the bathroom tap and fill a plastic cup (bathroom tap is lower than the kitchen) and made their own lunches since grade 2, started doing dishes around the same time, and get called back if they don't wipe up their crumbs and spills when they have a snack or make a sandwich etc. They've done their own laundry since age 12/13 (they're just over a year apart), and if they are out of underwear that's their tough luck if they need to wear a bathing suit under their clothes that day and then do laundry when they get home from school (hasn't happened yet, but it happened to me once, and only once, when I first started doing my own laundry at age 12). We use one towel each in this family, and we use it for a week (although anyone who uses a facecloth gets a new one each time) and it gets hung on a towel bar after use.

Moms aren't supposed to be servants, nor are we supposed to wait hand and foot on our little darlin's. It is our job to teach them to be responsible people, and that starts at day 1. If they have the ability, it is their job and responsibility. I'm sure you know this, but now it is time to stop complaining and start cracking that whip. Every age kid can do something, and if you start them off young they don't know any different.

Sorry if this comes out harsh, I've had a long day. But you can't just let them walk all over you and not contribute.

 

[Wannabefree]

moolie, my other messy kid is 40 :/ Honestly we are all just running short on time lately with school, work, volunteering, church functions, classes, etc. etc. The next few weeks should slow down a bit since we won't have classes mid week and all church functions are finished up after this concert tomorrow night. I am NOT volunteering ANY in the next few weeks so I can get stuff done here. Tomorrow will be the last day for that for a while. I'm just tired

 

[TanksHill]

@ WBF...

@ Moolie, can you come visit my kids? It would be so nice if I had someone to back me.

G

 

[moolie]

I "get" busy. I really do. But the rest of your family has to "get" it too. You work so much harder than they give you credit for, and if it's a teenager and a husband we're talking about, then they need to get off their butts and contribute--starting yesterday.

When hubs and I got married, we divided up the chores--he cleans the bathrooms, does the dinner dishes on the nights the kids are out at Girl Guides, takes out the garbage and recycling, and does his share of our laundry (we divide it in half, kids do their own--before kids started doing their own I washed, he folded and put away). He does need constant reminding when it comes to the bathrooms, but at least he does them.

Kids are tough as well, but ours do ok except for letting clutter get out of hand and sometimes not noticing how full their laundry baskets are getting, so I nudge here and there. I don't nag, if they run out of jeans they wear track pants or a skirt and do their laundry when they get home. Natural consequences.

Gina, just make them do it. My Aunt, whose daughter is the same age as my own kids (weird generation thing) always says the same thing to me. But she, and you, just have to do it. Start with one task--kid #1 loads the dishwasher, kid #2 unloads and puts away--or whatever works in your family (my two kids can't do dishes together without attempted homicide, so we divide and conquer tasks with them separated). But just do it. And don't give up if they don't do it right the first time.

Too many parents I know don't make their kids do "chores" because they don't think their kids will do a good job, or the parents are control freaks, or the parents didn't like doing chores when they were kids and don't think it's "fair" to make kids work, or the parents just don't know how to delegate.

Kids can't learn without doing, and you're doing your kids a total disservice if you send them out into the real world one day with no skills or sense of responsibility.

There is a generation out there that society is beginning to refer to as "millennials". These young people feel so incredibly entitled to everything under the sun, because the one thing they were never taught was to take personal responsibility. These people drive me absolutely batty, and it's all the fault of their parents. Don't be those parents.

 

[Wannabefree]

moolie I think you're missing something I am saying. We just don't have TIME DD and DH do dishes every night. I never have to unless I just want to pitch in and help or give them the day off. DH also does laundry most of the time. But, he has been busy helping a friend and when he isn't doing that, lately he has been cutting steel or working outside. I just wish those two would literally pick up after themselves. DH dresses in the livingroom to keep from waking me, and leaves his night clothes for me to pick up and put away. Trash from candy on the table beside the couch etc. etc. DD has to be reminded to do everything, which just takes more of my time, but I am stubborn enough to not do it for her no matter how bad it hampers my ability to get everything else done. It's just frustrating right now because we have SO much going on with furniture rearranging, deep cleaning, etc. etc. and PAPERWORK out the hoohah right now. I'm just cranky, and their little stuff is gettin on my nerves right now So really it's not anybody's fault, but until we get this house ready for those kids they are gonna HAFTA pick up and do their own little stuff! I'm the rearranger/mover/organizer and I can't get to it to do it lately usually housework is NOT this big a deal because we generally work together to keep it manageable. I do need to light a fire under DD's butt to get her stuff out of the boys room so I can finish up in there though.....but Algebra has been getting in the way :/

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

this reminded me that I need to do laundry.......