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.

[quietolong]

bump

[KneelBeforeZod]

I figure it wont be long until they move to the back yard... eventually some other teenagers will come by and do something crappy to that tent.

[radiohead]

Tell the children, once, that any items not in their proper place by 8:00 AM the next morning will be thrown out or given to charity

This was a popular tactic at the radiohead home.

It worked, resulting in a clean house with no parental begging. I used the same tactic with the nintendo - you get 1 minute to save the game or I turn it off for you, unhook it from the tv, and we'll see when you get it back. No nintendo addict in my house.

Son is now 27 and he knows he's not too old for me to toss his stuff if it starts creeping out of his room. These parents need to start acting like parents and stop begging. For young kids like these, I say strip the room down to the mattress and just the clothes they need for school (didn't need to do that w/my son, but it sounds like fun it would get their attention). I'd be danged if I moved out of my house.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - move the kids to the yard.

[radiohead]

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."

LOL! Memories! Sniff sniff. Y'all are making me want to get a big trash bag and go in my son's room and start cleaning ...

[Aquinasfan]

You're a rarity, at least in comparison to the moms in my neighborhood.

"Aaron, come here right now... Aaron... 1...2... Aaron... come here!... Aaron!... Where are you going... Aaron... I'm going to count to three... 1...2... Aaron... Are you coming?... Didn't you hear me?..."

You get the picture.

[Old Lady]

Tha parents are stupid. The kids will only help out if there are real consequences -- take things away that they want, and stick to it.

The parents could also go through the house with a large garbage bag and throw things away that are on the floor, chairs, not washed.

[2banana]

Son is now 27 and he knows he's not too old for me to toss his stuff if it starts creeping out of his room.

I know it may be great to still have your son at home, but it may be time for him to "spread his wings."

[Xenalyte]

Ahem. That's referred to in polite society as a "treasure trail."

[Xenalyte]

Getting bad grades upset the holy hell outa me. That's why I studied.

[Old Lady]

12, good post.

I heard once that the role of a parent is to prepare your kids to face life on their own.

[Xenalyte]

My parents did something called Choices and Consequences. When I (or the other two) acted up, we were told, "You have a choice. You can continue to do that, in which case the consequence (insert grounding, spanking, loss of privileges, etc.) will follow . . . or you can choose to stop, in which case it's all good."

As the oldest, I felt it my duty to test them. I lost every single time.

[Xenalyte]

A beach is where you go to get tan. You're looking for "beotch."

[Constantine XIII]

Yeah.

1) That's retarded.

2) It's not going to work.

[Constantine XIII]

LOL, she's in pretty good shape for an old hippy, though. :P

[Muzzle_em]

I cannot see moving out into a tent.
How about changing the locks when the kids are out and making them sleep in a tent (or the basement)
or REFUSING to cook for them or do their laundry?

I have a relative who has grown children who are spoiled beyond belief. Besides giving them everything, she waits on them hand and foot. One daughter in college, who has a house and a washer and dryer, comes home on the weekends and brings her dirty laundry for her mother or grandmother to do for her!

[Muzzle_em]

Great idea!
My sister did that to her kids a few times with their toys.
Her mother-in-law, however, went to Goodwill and bought back the toys.

[InvisibleChurch]

child braniac, benjamin barnard

[Old Lady]

How about changing the locks when the kids are out and making them sleep in a tent (or the basement) or REFUSING to cook for them or do their laundry?

They can't change the locks or make your kid sleep outside -- that would be child abuse/endangerment. I read a story once about parents who locked the door at curfew and would not let their teenager in, and the kid was murdered by a stranger.

The parents need to do something less dramatic -- no signs in the front yard, no tents, just take their own house back. Have some consequences.

[Muzzle_em]

The armpit afro makes me hurl.
Those are some NASTY chicks....
er..are they chicks?