They may cart me off to the looney bin Monday night...

*emeleel* · #1 11-10-2001, 11:16 PM

I'm gonna need prayers Monday, lots of 'em!

Tonight, Sean had a bunch of LEGO's spilled on the floor. Again. So, he got told again to pick them all up. He always whines about it [if you wouldn't spill 'em, you wouldn't have to pick them up!] but this time he launched into a 10 minute whining litany that went something like this:

"I never get to play in this house! All I ever do is pick up around here!"

Over and over again, for quite a while. I finally got tired of it and hauled his butt over for a nice long lecture about just how little he does around here and he'd better be grateful for it.

Monday, he's getting an eye-opening lesson in work.

Don't hate me, but I am going to work that boy from breakfast til bedtime. He is going to learn just what it means to "never get to play" and "all I ever do is pick up stuff". So help me God, he's going to learn a powerful lesson if I have to haul him around by the scruff of his neck and scream myself hoarse! And if he ever has the audacity to whine again....

mtbat · #2 11-10-2001, 11:38 PM

Has he read Farmer Boy by Laura Inglles Wilder yet? if not-I recommend he read it or you read it to him-it will put his life of ease in perspective.

magenta321 · #3 11-11-2001, 12:01 AM

I am assuming he has monday off. You could also try the opposite approach. Maybe mommy should have a day without working. Don't say a critical word, let him be messy, let him go hungry, until he starts wondering what's up. Then let him know you are tired of working and that all you ever do is pick up and cook in here. Eventaully, the boy will get hungry enough and his mess will be large enough by that time that he might have to clean it and beg mommy to work again

*emeleel* · #4 11-11-2001, 04:53 PM

Sean's not in public school, so I can do this as many days as it takes to get through to him!

nicholmere · #5 11-13-2001, 05:43 PM

So .... how did it go?

*emeleel* · #6 11-13-2001, 11:37 PM

ROFL, I got tired before he did! Wouldncha know it....

Let's see - he helped me wash the dishes, do laundry, fold and hang laundry, cook lunch, vacuumed the computer area, scrubbed the toilets (yes, he did!), picked up half the living room, and I think that was about it. He had fun and only one time said he was tired, and didn't even whine that, just said it nicely. I think I got the point across.

All in all, it went really well!

kurt_messick · #7 11-14-2001, 10:23 AM

Of course, a child (or an adult, for that matter) can usually do cheerfully most anything once.

What if it were to become a weekly task? A daily one? That would really make the message sink in.

Of course, that's what adulthood is for, I guess.

Gee, now I'm depressed...

**pluckyduck** · #8 11-17-2001, 10:15 AM

Melanie -

When I have a day to concentrate on it, I'm going to do the same darn thing.

My Adam is really starting to tick me off.

(Dan too, but Adam is more vocal.)

Okay, I'm a bad Mom. I don't require much of my boys...I know that I should have them do more. My excuse is that I can only focus on so many things at once and it just takes too much energy to assign them tasks and then follow up with them.

Anyway, you would think that they'd be smart enough to zip their lips and just be happy, yes? (Well, not really, human nature is to make more trouble for yourself.)

Lately, Adam has taken to complaining about my housekeeping. Um, yeah, our housekeeping sucks, but excuse me, when was the last time you did anything?

You have clean clothes to wear, food on the table, a personal secretary who follows you around making sure your appointments are kept and assignments fulfilled

(that would be me!).....this stuff doesn't just happen magically, nor does the money to pay for it magically appear. Somebody in the house goes out and earns it!

Grrrrrr.

Andrea

**conradd** · #9 11-18-2001, 01:19 AM

Isn't it fun?

Shane made the same mistake, Andrea. Once, long ago (he hasn't made this mistake twice), I asked him one Saturday morning to do some insignificant household chore. Dusting or vacuuming - nothing too strenuous. He told me it was "women's work".

After a short but intense discussion, he spent the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, polishing the kitchen (and this was waaay before Flylady), mopping floors, etc. I sat on the couch, read magazines, played with his Nintendo, and did all the things that he normally did on Saturdays.

It was a day well spent for both of us.

Deb
who was the worst mother in the world for one full day, but we laugh about it now