Posted on 04/01/2014 6:33:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Papa don't take no mess...
A Georgia soldier was tired of doing battle with his daughter about her messy bedroom so he carried out a sneak attack on Monday and moved all of her possessions into the family driveway while she was at school. The Fort Stewart soldier left a sign on her stuff that read, "Haley, room moved to driveway. Clean it next time."
The man, who did not want to be identified, was hoping to teach Haley a lesson.
He told WSAV that she was upset with the unexpected move and called his tactic "extreme."
In order to improve things in Haley’s room, the father has hired a painter to come in and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. The father hopes that the new paint job will inspire Haley to keep her quarters cleaner from now on.
Daddy was indeed extreme. But, correct. Children need to learn how to live like human beings. She can presumably move her stuff back in and then I’ll bet she keeps her room clean!
My neighbor used his gas powered leaf blower to create a pile in his daughter’s bed room. A bit extreme but point made.
I just found a flaw in his strategy.
LOL Sometimes enough is enough.
While I don’t think spanking is always wrong, I’m a big fan of time out as a first response. I put kids in time out when they need it, and the same for clutter. If one of my children has so much stuff that their things can’t manage to stay put away, I’ll start putting stuff in time out until the clutter learns to behave.
It’s amazing how quickly things tidy up when a favorite toy/sweater/whatever goes into a box for a month. It’s just like swatting one child, where the rest of the kids straighten up immediately. When you put a box full of stuff in the basement/attic/crawlspace/office/wherever for a month, the rest of the stuff starts finding its way where it belongs immediately and keeps that habit.
That said, I like this dad’s methods.
Mess.
A point needed to be made, but I am not big on public humiliation of family members.
I’m going to reserve judgment on Haley’s dad until I know how old she is. It is unusual, but sometimes, unusual is the only thing that gets through.
My Dad did that to my sisters stuff for the same reason.
The 2nd time around she never saw her stuff again.
Amazingly she keeps an incredibly clean and organized home.
They are very clean at Camp Swampy (Ft. Stewart). I was once driving through the reservation when I was stopped by an MP. About 20 Abrams tanks crossed the highway, then this guy runs out with a push broom and sweeps off the highway where they crossed.
That struck me as odd.
YEP and/or CPS added.
My daddy had a pretty simple way of handling those kind of things. He simply told you to do something and you did it. There was no discussion etc.
Failure to do what he said resulted in instant attitude adjustment.
When I was in 5th grade, my teacher dumped my desk (and those of a couple of other kids) out in the hallway, while were at recess, because they were so messy. I admit it, it was bad! I was totally embarrassed, but I sure learned my lesson and kept my desk very tidy after that.
I took all the toys, stuffed animals, games and books out of my son’s room because he was refusing to clean up. He slowly earned things back by doing chores and helping out or showing responsibility in other ways. He rarely had to be asked more than once to clean up after that experience.
Agreed.
(I doubt she will require any further
humiliation.)
Keep your private stuff private. I’m betting he could have quietly cut off her phone and internet and gotten the results he wanted.
Dear Sirs:
I am responding to your letter denying the deduction for two of the three dependents I claimed on my 1998 Federal Tax return.
Thank you. I have questioned whether these are my children or not for years. They are evil and expensive.
It’s only fair that since they are minors and not my responsibility that the government (who evidently is taxing me more to care for these waifs) knows something about them and what to expect over the next year. You may apply next year to reassign them to me and reinstate the deduction.
This year they are yours!
The oldest, Kristen, is now 17. She is brilliant. Ask her! I suggest you put her to work in your office where she can answer people’s questions about their returns. While she has no formal training, it has not seemed to hamper her knowledge of any other subject you can name. Taxes should be a breeze; Next year she is going to college. I think it’s wonderful that you will now be responsible for that little expense. While you mull that over keep in mind that she has a truck. It doesn’t run at the moment so you have the immediate decision of appropriating some Department of Defense funds to fix the vehicle or getting up early to drive her to school. Kristen also has a boyfriend. Oh joy. While she possesses all of the wisdom of the universe, her alleged mother and I have felt it best to occasionally remind her of the virtues of abstinence, and in the face of overwhelming passion, safe sex. This is always uncomfortable and I am quite relieved you will be handling this in the future. May I suggest that you reinstate Joycelyn Elders, who had a rather good handle on the problem.
Patrick is 14. I’ve had my suspicions about this one. His eyes are a little close together for normal people. He may be a tax examiner himself one day if you do not incarcerate him first. In February I was awakened at three in the morning by a police officer who was bringing Pat home. He and his friends were TP’ing houses. In the future would you like him delivered to the local IRS office or to Ogden, UT? Kids at 14 will do almost anything on a dare. His hair is purple. Permanent dye, temporary dye, what’s the big deal? Learn to deal with it. You’ll have plenty of time as he is sitting out a few days of school after instigating a food fight. I’ll take care of filing your phone number with the vice principal. Oh yes, he and all of his friends have raging hormones. This is the house of testosterone and it will be much more peaceful when he lives in your home. DO NOT leave any of them unsupervised with girls, explosives, inflammables, inflatables, vehicles, or telephones. (I’m sure that you will find telephones a source of unimaginable amusement, and be sure to lock out the 900 and 976 numbers!)
Heather is an alien. She slid through a time warp and appeared quite by magic one year. I’m sure this one is yours. She is 10 going on 21. She came from a bad trip in the sixties. She wears tie-dyed clothes, beads, sandals, and hair that looks like Tiny Tim’s. Fortunately you will be raising my taxes to help offset the pinch of her remedial reading courses. Hooked On Phonics is expensive so the schools dropped it. Good news! You can buy it yourself for half the amount of the deduction that you are denying! It’s quite obvious that we were terrible parents (ask the other two) so they have helped raise this one to a new level of terror. She cannot speak English. Most people under twenty understand the curious patois she fashioned out of valley girls/boys in the hood/reggae/ yuppie/ political doublespeak. I don’t. The school sends her to a speech pathologist who has her roll her R’s. It added a refreshing Mexican/Irish touch to her voice. She wears hats backwards, pants baggy and wants one of her ears pierced four more times. There is a fascination with tattoos that worries me but I am sure that you can handle it. Bring a truck when you come to get her, as she sort of “nests” in her room and I think that it would be easier to move the entire thing than find out what it is really made of.
You denied two of the three exemptions so it is only fair you get to pick which two you will take. I prefer that you take the youngest, I still go bankrupt with Kristen’s college but then I am free! If you take the two oldest then I still have time for counseling before Heather becomes a teenager. If you take the two girls then I won’t feel so bad about putting Patrick in a military academy. Please let me know of your decision as soon as possible as I have already increased the withholding on my W-4 to cover the $395 in additional tax and to make a down payment on an airplane.
Yours Truly,
Bob
[Note: The taxpayer in question added this caveat at a later date:
“Rats, they sent me the refund and allowed the deductions.”
Our response:
“Gee Bob, sometimes you just can’t get a break”...]
Dad was an @ss.
This was a sure way to damage his strained relationship with his daughter.
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