Posted on 12/08/2004 7:16:25 AM PST by 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.
LOL - no doubt!!!!
"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."
Get a grip Carrie, the parents are pulling a stunt. Sheesh.
I tell my kids, "I have the car keys and I have the check card." That ends the discussion.
"It was like I'd done something to take back my little corner of the world," he said.
The French approach to conflict resolution: He's "taken back his little corner of the world" by surrendering his own territory.
He dropped out of high school and then proceeded to lay around the house - refused to even do chores.
We kicked his butt out and changed the locks.
I understand that he lived out of his car for a couple of weeks before finding a friend to stay with.
It turned out to be the best thing we ever did. He straightened up and we are on the best of terms ten years later.
Wow! I'm ready to go on strike sometimes too. But my strike would mostly consist of cleaning the areas I use, not washing their clothes for them and not making them their meals. They can live on peanut butter for a few days and learn to do their own laundry. Maybe I should start tonight. LOL!
I notice this problem especially with... women. Sorry ladies, but it's true. Women will talk anything to death.
If you deliver on your threats, you won't have to say the same thing more than once.
And that 17 year old kid is cruising to be booted out of the house come his next b-day..
We have the following literally carved in stone, displayed in our home:
Raise the the Child for the Path, not the path for the Child.
Socialists. :)
You guys are taking this way too seriously. Lighten up, it's funny.
Doing the dishes and taking out the trash aren't that big an inconvenience. As for laundry, why didn't the parents just stop doing it and let the kids wear dirty clothes until they decide to act right? I can't understand the parents exiling themselves from their own house.
Anybody wanna take a bet on which way these two nothings voted in the recent election?
That's kinda what I was thinking.
I don't 'threaten'... I 'promise'.
I may be called a 'beach'....but with 6 kids AND the hubby, it's 'my way' or they find they have 'no way'.
If the kids get hungry and 'all' those dirty dishes are in the sink, 'too-bad-so-sad-', I can't cook/serve food. (dontchaknow,'all' those dirty dishes are what's NEEDED to make the meal????)
School time and nothing 'clean' to wear???? Oh well. The LEAST they could have done was to put their dirty laundry down in the laundry room. Now that they're old enough, it's NOT my job to chase down their dirty stuff.(I wash, I dry, I fold, I sort....THEY can get it there)
If the trash piles up...it interferes with my 'mommily' duties. I can't look at trash AND look at food to cook. If they let the trash pile up, then it's no big deal to let their hunger pangs pile up.
Once your kids know it's YOUR home, YOUR rules, and NOT a burger-king situation, they know where they can live in peace.
Only a fool-parent would camp out, in front of the house, that they worked for and paid for...while the tyrant-kids had all the comfies of 'home'.
>> I don't 'threaten'... I 'promise'.<<
How about calling it a prediction.
LOL....sounds good!
Pathetic. I'm glad my parents didn't have a problem with spanking. It's a lot more dignified than this approach.
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