Was This Bad Parenting?

susiestar

Roll With It
Jess just told me that if T comes out of his room every 10 minutes and stares at her and then goes back into his room, she is going to hit him.

I told her to just take the drawer of balls of yarn and throw them at him instead. Yarn doesn't hurt when it hits you.

Was that bad parenting?

It is the beginning of summer break and already they are doing the "he's looking at me" stuff.

I hate summer break. Mostly I think they are hilarious and try to keep a straight face while they whine about each other. Then I find a chore for them each to do until they get the point that I don't want to hear it and they stop whining to me.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
She is 21 and he is 17. Summer camp won't take them. She has a job. He is supposedly looking. He will be looking harder. He is taking classes at the university this summer. Mostly they just annoy each other and want me to play referee. I don't wear black and white striped shirts. Ever.
 

kim75062

Active Member
Their 17 and 21! Let them annoy the crap out of each other lol

At that age It's not your problem unless someone's bleeding :)

My teenage girls learned along time ago to figure it out on their own because they will need to function as adults one day which includes dealing with people we don't like on a daily basis.

Plus with the problems of my younger one I REALLY didn't care if S took Js nail polish or if J keeps staring at S just because she's bored....
 

susiestar

Roll With It
At this age I think it is largely a cry for more chores!!!! I think they are just BEGGING to do those really boring or yucky chores that I hate to do.

And if they are not smart enough to figure out that annoying me results in this, WOO HOO!! Less for me to do!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Oh, no. I do that chore. It is one that I do NOT delegate. Hubby and I made a deal early in our marriage. If he would clean the toilets regularly (weekly and well, then I would lift the toilet seat when I was done. If I clean the toilet, he puts the toilet seat down.

This came about because I was 8 months pregnant with Wiz and went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I was mostly asleep and he left the seat up. I needed help. It was NOT an experience I wanted to repeat and I was about as happy as a wet cat. We had already had more than a couple of disagreements about this issue, and he thought I was just being an idiot about it. I just wanted to know, one way or the other, if it would be up or down.

He always thought it was 'unfeminist' for women to demand that men put the seat down for them. So I agreed to lift the lid IF he would clean the toilet each week, meaning the ENTIRE toilet, not just the bowl. He didn't even last a week. He simply refused to clean the entire thing, or couldn't remember that more than the bowl had to be cleaned. I refused to go after him and nag him to finish the job. We had agreed that these parts all had to be cleaned, and he didn't do them. So the seat went down, and I took over the cleaning. It takes all of 5 minutes, and nobody falls in.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Susie, that made me laugh... Early in our relationship, we agreed to put seat AND lid down to keep the cats out of the chemicals. We don't use them anymore, but it's habit now... And HE fell in once. BAHAHAHAHA!
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
Oh I'm SO late to this thread...but I had to add...Jabber ALWAYS puts the seat down.

One of the many joys of marrying a man raised with five sisters. :D
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Seat AND lid must be down.

Non-negotiable.

Leaving the lid up when not in use is like not making the bed when you are not sleeping in it.

That's like a second or third date question! (Not with first husband, but after that, live and learn)
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
Seat and lid down, at first to prevent little people from drowning and later to prevent the dog from drinking. It's basically a habit now with everyone and, right now, I am the only female living with 5 males and the dog that drank from the toilet died 2 years ago.

I don't make my bed or anyone else's and never have.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Actually, it's healthier to leave your mattress as exposed as possible after you get up.

It allows things to cool down and dry out, which makes for a less pleasant habitat for dustmites to breed in.

I change my sheets every two weeks, but when I get up, I pull all the bedding that goes on top of me down to the foot of the bed and leave the mattress and bottom sheet exposed to the air.

I feel that that's especially important in my case as I use a weighted blanket, which really traps heat and humidity.
 

kim75062

Active Member
I do like my house clean and things clutter free and organized to an extent. But it's also lived in and with kids like ours we learn quickly that some things just aren't worth the time or effort.

I don't make my bed, I refuse to match socks, I think silverware drawer dividers are an annoying waste of space and there is no "right" spot for anything in my kitchen lol

You will find interesting things drawn on every window of my house my six year old can reach with a dry erase marker.

Laundry consists of the dirty pile getting washed and dryed and then moved to the clean pile. Every week or so I get annoyed with the clean mountain of clothes and put it all away lol

I've also learned the best way to keep kids toys off my living room floor is to buy the biggest furniture that will fit in the room to eliminate the floor space completely
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Kat, I absolutely ADORE you!!!!!!! I knew there was a darn good reason that I NEVER made a bed in my life beside the fact that I thought it was a useless waste of my time!

Now I can tell my mother it is to help keep the dustmites away! Especially important for her as in winter she and my father use polarfleece for sheets, top and bottom, plus a heated mattress pad. Their bedroom is a poorly insulated converted garage and it gets quite chilly. But they get quite toasty in there, especially with 4 cats piled on top of them!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I never really got the concept of bed making. I am not a carpenter and never really wanted to be one. Or a mattress maker. Those people make beds. Otherwise, I put sheets on them after I wash them. Period.

It drove my mother NUTS when I was a kid, but not even her most devious efforts could get me to make my bed every day. I remember purposely arranging legos all over the floor so she wouldn't walk into my room to fuss over the bed not being made. I think I was four.

She gave up finally.
 
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