Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:23 am
One of my friends was praising how great a help her daughter (adult but still at home) is with helping around the house. We were on the phone and my friend was going through a pile of laundry on the floor in front of the dryer. Apparently, 'helping' is dumping the clothes from the dryer on the floor and putting her own wash into the dryer. I mentioned that having a basket there would help. Oh, there is a basket, on top of the dryer. The kid is too lazy to either lift down the basket to put in the clean clothes or lift the clothes up to the basket. Given that the pile of dirty laundry in on the floor in front of the washer and the two appliances are side by side, I don't see this kind of 'help' something to brag about.
It is like my friend I was having coffee with this week. She was on the phone to her teenage son who was still at home having slept in. She told him when she'd pick him up to take him to school, told him to make breakfast and a lunch for himself. She called later to make sure he was on task and finally when we were about to leave to get him. In each call, she reminded him to grab a mac&cheese from the freezer for his lunch.
He gets into the van, she asks if he has his lunch, "no, can I borrow $2?" and she says no. I say, "are you kidding me, I heard your mom tell you 1) she doesn't have any money to bring you breakfast and 2) to bring a lunch, which she said 3 times and you have the nerve to ask for money after getting her to interrupt her day to drive you to school? If you were my kid you'd be out on the sidewalk now, walking to school, with me driving the van behind you to make sure you actually went to school."
And I would have, if it was my kid. Actually, I would have made him walk to school in the first place when he woke up and met him there with a lunch at class break (because that way I'd know for sure he went.) The school is just over a mile away and it was a gorgeous day so there was no excuse for the ride.
Sorry, I'll get off my soap box now. Harriet, keep those standards up. Teens can sink to unbelievable depths of laziness so it is important to set your limits and enforce them.