Night Howls
Comments
-
@AllyJay Your story reminds me of growing up. My Mum grew up in her blind grandmother's house so everything had to be tidy. She made sure that we kept our house the same way. Everything put away before moving on to the next thing. We did something similiar here but allowed the lounge room (which is not a walkway) to be left until the end of the day if that's what the kids wanted to do.
@sarnicad - I have 3 kids, now 12, 13 & 16 but they have all had set chores for at least 8 years (the younger ones got help if needed) and for the last 4 years it's been a roster on the fridge, divided between dishes (drying + dishwasher), rubbish, recycling (daily) + everyone sets the table and whoever I nab, feeds the cat. When I went back to work 3 years ago we also started a weekly roster divided between hard floors (cow of a job with furniture, etc to move), bathrooms, and vacuuming carpets. They also help my husband with chopping wood for the fire during winter. Sports gear has to go in the wash as soon as they get home (used to be gymnastics but now wet swimming gear and PE stuff that's often needed for the next day) - if it's not in there, I don't wash it and I certainly won't try to get it dry if it's washed with a later load. The kids actually all know how to do use the washing machine and they do help me hang out the clothes at times but due to water issues, I prefer to do the washing most times myself. The older 2 also iron their own school shirts, as the younger one will also do next year - they get to choose when to do them as long as they are dressed in a clean ironed shirt in time for school each day. It makes them sound like angels but believe me, they're not, and even though this has been going for years, it's amazing how it can slip the mind. But all in all, I think it's good for them and good for me. Their chores take less than an hour each on weekends so not really a big deal.2 -
Hard to say. I was concentrating too hard on not falling over, not getting lost, not babbling like an idiot....
4 -
Just been catching up on a few days of Howls (mooching in the background while waiting on path results) and taking comfort in the knowledge I’m not the only screaming banchee mother. We have exactly the same issues as everyone else with the dishwasher, kitchen and clothes left in the bathroom and I loose my shit frequently. Mine are 7, 15 and 15 (twins) and OMG when I told them they needed to sweep and mop the floors tonight you would think they were devil possessed.
I was so pissed with my teen daughter a couple of weeks ago when she informed me it was my job to sort/wash her clothes pile - stated as she lay in her bed on her phone - I told her I would never wash her clothes again.
Where do our girls go?Even my BS commented today about her 15 year old daughter being lazy and refusing to get out of bed.0 -
How come she still has a phone @Eli86 ? Confiscate it and any other device she has (paid for by you I assume) and tell her that seeing as you paid for it, it's yours, and that being the case, you get to choose to whom you lend it out. She is not on that favoured list. You only lend your stuff out to your friends, and man oh man, with a mouth and attitude like that, I certainly would not choose her as a friend. Tell her straight, you are her mother, not her servant, not her slave, and most certainly not the provider of non essential luxuries. Once teenagers with a shocking attitude learn that their "stuff" can and will be removed by you, the provider of all that largesse, their attitude improves by leaps and bounds.
1 -
@zoffiel - so normal type of first day, then!
I had to laugh (much later, of course) that after posting what's expected of my kids, the following occurred: Ms12 had the responsibility for the bathroom on the weekend and I reminded her that she needed to actually check that the soap scum had been scrubbed off the shower screen (she's a bugger for leaving it to the next kid to deal with a week later). I went to have a shower afterwards and you could see the scum still there and she hadn't bothered to put the cleaning spray away, which turned out to be laundry stain remover. When I went out to her (face stuck in her phone) to point these things out, I got a slight eye roll, lifted lip and "whatever". This, of course, did not go down well. The "conversation" finished with me explaining to her that, contrary to her belief, "whatever" does not mean, has never meant, and will never mean "sorry".0 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Naa1HXeDQ
And she says baby
It's three a.m. I must be lonely
When she says baby
Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes
And the rain's gonna wash away I believe it
Well, it just ticked over to 4AM...but you get the drift....0 -
Howling alone is no fun....... but I am glad you are all asleep! ZZZzzzzzzzzzz
0
