It does not matter if you are the World’s Greatest Mother or the mom who can’t stand kids – including her own. There are ALWAYS going to be frustrations with parenting our children in one form or another. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you preach, discipline, rant or rave – there is always going to be that one thing that will just continue to frustrate the hell out of you with your kids.
Mine actually do two things that frustrate the hell out of me. One, is “borrowing” things from my bedroom (and desk area) that do not belong to them and then not returning them; the second frustration being that they continue to shove dirty clothing, broken hangers, and all manner of other gross and disgusting things under their beds. I want to show you something:
In the search for my three hole punch (which I have had for going on 12 years mind you) which magically has just disappeared off the face of the earth, I decided to check under the youngest testosterone carrier’s bed. What you see above is all of the chit that he had shoved underneath his bed.
One – I refuse to clean that mess up. I didn’t shove it under the bed – I’m not cleaning it up. The boy is going to be 10 years old next month, and there is absolutely no excuse for this. So when he arrives home from school this afternoon, he will be told:
- he is not going outside until that mess is cleaned up and everything put away where it belongs;
- that if I find anything under his bed again other than his skateboard or the larger, flat toys that he can store under the bed – he’s everything;
- everything means the bed frame, the television, the gaming console and his clothes;
- and grounded for two weeks. Just to round out the punishment.
Enough is enough. I am D-O-N-E dealing with this.
Life in a House – Household Sign Out Printable
If you have one or more children (and the occasional scatterbrained husband) who are constantly “borrowing” things and then never replacing them, we’ve got an amazing free printable for you today! You can organize a closet area with items that need to be signed out and used, or keep several throughout the house for each room.
I’ve told both of my boys that if they wish to borrow something (such as dad’s flashlight or a particular DVD, or something from my desk), they will be required to sign it out and then sign it back in when they are finished. That way they are held accountable for it, and if it gets misplaced or lost, it is their responsibility to recover the missing item.
Click Here to Download the FREE PDF Printable
Do you have the same problems with your children? Share some ways that you’ve found were helpful in making sure items were returned when finished – and not borrowed without asking in the first place!
