Parents Go On Strike, Move Out To Protest Messy Kids Teens Apparently Refuse To Help With Housework

http://www.nbc5i.com/family/3980426/detail.html ^

[Ellesu]

Parents Go On Strike, Move Out To Protest Messy Kids Teens Apparently Refuse To Help With Housework

POSTED: 7:47 am EST December 8, 2004

DELTONA, Fla. -- The dishes, garbage and dirty laundry were piling up and Cat and Harlan Barnard were getting no help from their two children.

After begging and pleading with their 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to help out around the house, the Barnards decided they were fed up. So they went on strike - and moved out to the front yard.

"This was our last-ditch effort," Cat Barnard said.

Since Monday morning, the Barnards have lived in a tent in their front yard, going inside the house only to use the restroom or shower. The couple sits on lawn chairs and roasts marshmallows over a hibachi.

[mountainfolk]

They sure will---Too late to salvage the older one and the younger doesn't even see the problem. Kids have no shame in this area as most are happy to live like pigs if allowed. It's a fun idea but the parents better be careful or the child welfare dept will be after them for child abuse. Come to think of it, if HHS hauls the kids off to foster homes, the problem will become somebody else's.

[Chemist_Geek]

Can they not TELL their children to do something, and if refused, make them do it or make the punishment worse than the alternative?

How? If the kids have been used to this - the one's 17, the other's 12 - then how can the parents enforce their will?

[Tijeras_Slim]

I've had to wrap my computer screen with saran wrap to keep from spitting coffee on it

The self appointed humorists on FR are probably responsible for 25% of all monitor sales in the US.

[Hat-Trick]

You get what you settle for.

[UseYourHead]

Plus, the kids are laughing at the parents. How much stupider are people going to get?

[goodnesswins]

you said..."you just can't wait until their already grown to try to instill responsibility."

YEP....in fact, I consider it child abuse NOT to teach children "responsibility" for taking care of themselves and their belongings.

[Hat-Trick]

You're on to something, Slim. I think these two are the offspring:

[Tijeras_Slim]

The navel goatee on the chick on the left just makes me laugh. :)

[viaveritasvita]

At first glance, I thought these people were the Barnyards!! LOL!

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[kpp_kpp]

I attest, it works.

I always offer to help my kids clean up. Only I do it with a big black trash bag. After the first time many years ago when they were little they have always refused the offer and cleaned up pronto.

[asgardshill]

The solution is obvious (other than sending the little brats to military school):

Turn off electricity to the house. No TV, Playstation, computer, et al. Full and immediate compliance by the teens with the house rules earns an hour of electrical power the first day, maybe another hour the second day, etc.

[boxerblues]

Whether the couple's actions could be regarded as abandonment depends on how much guidance the parents are still providing and "if the children are suffering as a result," said Carrie Hoeppner, a spokeswoman with the Department of Children & Families in Orange County

give me a frinking break, abandonment? They are still on their own property

[vie20000]

I consider it child abuse NOT to teach children "responsibility" for taking care of themselves and their belongings

I am so glad I am not the only one who feels that way! Ditto for people who spend 18 years protecting their kids' precious self-esteem (everyone's a "winner", competition is bad, getting bad grades might upset them, etc.) and then send them out into the real world completely unprepared for life. I have had the bad fortune of having to hire (and frequently fire) a number of those kids, who get out of college and are genuinely shocked when they are expected to show up on time, do their work and take responsibility for their own mistakes. I feel very sorry for them, and blame their parents for neglecting to teach them the skills they need to be functioning adults.

[Remole]

No, better, do it while the kids are at school.

When the kids come home to an empty room, they'll ask, "Where's my stuff?"

To which the parents answer, "YOUR stuff? YOU don't have any stuff. That was all OUR stuff, and we let you borrow it for a while, and it's clear that you can't take care of it."

[Pete]

We have used the throw away rule and it is very effective.

Recently, my wife and I have had to deal with the issue of a messy finished basement. We told the kids, ages 10, 7, 5, and 3 that they could not play in the basement nor go on the computer, which is located down there, if the basement was not cleaned up (by cleaned up, we mean their toys, paper, etc - i.e. clutter). That pretty much solved the problem.

Of course, in order for this to work, we have had to establish the ideas of authority and obedience. This has only accomplished one day at a time, with God's help, over their entire lives. It is not easy but it is the only way and is well worth the effort.

[TNdandelion]

My 6yr old knows that if she doesn't keep her room picked up, mommy and daddy get a new office/sewing room! Which reminds me...I've got 2 bags of toys in the attic to pull down and sort through.

Would it be tacky to re-wrap them as christmas presents? (kidding)

[avenir]

You gotta love these modern candy-assed parents. They're outside making S'Mores while their brats lounge inside the pig pen.

Is this for real?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

.... and take away the X-Box, GameBoy, computer games.......

[najida]

Do it! I know of a coupla moms who re-cycle gifts. Especially when the child gets way more than they can play with at once.

[najida]

Don't they understand that kids have a very high tolerance for mess and dirt? Like, they could live in a feed lot and be just fine with it?