Infected Household - Lastworditis

There is another infection in my home! I really need to figure out how to disinfect my house from this horrible bacteria/virus. I have diagnosed it as Lastworditis. It has infected my oldest two children and I'm afraid it will be spread to my younger two.

It seemed to be at it's worst yesterday. I don't know yet how today will be affected since one of each age group are currently still in bed (@ 9:45 a.m.).

It was bad yesterday that I literally pulled my hair and ran out of my house! I jumped into my vehicle and went for a ride. I had some Blockbuster movies to return anyway.

I am tired of telling/asking the older kids (ages 21 and 15) to do some household chores. They absolutely refuse to do anything! I'm tired of fighting with them about it.

When the 21 y.o. is asked or told to do SOMETHING around her to contribute to the household by way of housekeeping, we get a lot of this, "What are you gonna do when I move out?" to which I usually respond (in my head, to myself), "WHEN - WHEN - WHEN are you moving out!!!? WHEN will this blessed event occur!!! PUH-LEEZ!!!" However, I don't say this to her face. Heaven forbid I would want to make her feel unwanted. (she doesn't read this so I'm not too afraid of saying it here).

Actually, she now has a boyfriend who has recently bought and house and asked her to move in with him. Although I do not condone or approve of living together before marriage, there's not much I can do about her decision other than to let her know that I dont' care for it. But that's another story.

When The Teen is asked or told to ... take the garbage out, I (and hubby) get this, "Why? Why do I have to do the garbage?". It doesn't matter if it's the garbage or load the dishwasher but we always get the back talk.

If I attempt to even answer the "Why?" I get interrupted with "mom, you're not listening to me!". How am I not listening? I didn't even get to finish what I was saying!

I know my little rant here is probably not making any sense. I'm just sooooo frustrated!! If anyone out there has any advice that I can apply here, please feel free to leave a comment.

Sons and Chores

The Teen came home from school today. He was excited that he had been able to purchase a Playstation 2 from a classmate and he wanted to get it plugged in immediately! I told him no. Actually, his reason was, "I just want to check it out and see if it works." (Ummm, looks like we need a lesson on frugal or wise spending!)

I told him, No, you can't plug it in right now...there are other responsiblities that have priority. To which I received a loud and long, "Maaaaahhhhhhhhmmmmmm!" I proceeded to tell him that his grandfather was waiting next door for Teen to come over and take care of prior committments. Teen's attitude gradually got worse as the afternoon went on.

When he returned home for dinner, he expressed his feelings regarding unfair designation of certain household chores. Meaning, he didn't want to do certain chores anymore because he's ALWAYS the one who has to do it.

Rather than argue with him (as tends to happen quite often), I suggested that he make me a chore chart that more fairly designates the household responsibilities among the members living here that are capable of performing such duties. To my surprise, he returned about an hour later with the requested chart. His idea is to rotate the chores on a daily basis. As it works out, the older household members will have 2 responsibilities at least once a week.

It's really not a bad idea, but it would be hard to remember (especially for me) that today's "Monday" therefore it's my turn to do the dishes and cook dinner.

Finally, the Teen, DH, and I all sat down, looked over the chart, and decided to try it on a trial basis this week just to see if it would improve things. However, now that the chart has been made, it will be MY responsibility to see that everyone is on task. Hmmm....how did this help me?