There are some things I keep in containers in our bedroom. Like chocolate chips. Otherwise they get eaten with-o anyone making cookies or whatever and when I want them to do something they are just gone. husband and I bought some new containers for flour, sugar etc... and there was one that was just right for the big bags of choc chips I have - the size you get a Sam's, not the little groc store bags.
husband and I had to go run an errand today. I saw the lid for the choc chip container on the floor in the living room almost under the chair she was sitting in. I knew what it went to, and knew she had NOT asked to have some or to cook with them. So I handed her the lid, told her I wanted it back on whatever it went to because the containers were expensive and I didn't want the top ruined.
So we come home, I go to put stuff up in the bedroom and see brown lumps on the floor. NOT what my daughter wanted me to see. I was already irritable because the typical teen things have been piling up.
So I chewed her out. Let her know that I knew a LOT of the stuff she tries to get away with. Mostly it is stupid little stuff and I don't say a word. Things like drinking the cans of coke I had my name on so htat when I get a migraine there is a cold coke - often all that stays down for 24 hrs or more. Yes, I believe that they keep "exploding" in the fridge. Sure. Esp when there is NO sticky residue on the floor, the fridge, the seal on the fridge that no one but me cleans, etc.... Sure. Yeah. They exploded. Right. And that is why a half empty can is beside your chair.
So after I chewed on her a while, pointing out that I know she has done X, Y and Z, I proceeded to blow her mind. How?
I told her that she is just too dang SMART to leave evidence like that!! For crying out loud, if you have GOT to sneak something, how stupid is it to leave a trail on the floor = esp when the only other person home is the CAT???
husband was standing with us, because if he isn't there and I say one of the kids can't do something, they "forget" and slide it by him for a few days. (again, typical teen and rarely something I make a big deal about or even comment on to them- I just don't provide whatever they want associated with the rule.) He started to sputter when I told her she was just too dang smart to leave evidence like that - if you are going to sneak then take some pride in your stealth and don't leave evidence!
Seriously. ALL kids do this kind of thing. I did. Every chld I know did and every parent I know knows their kids did this stuff.
But how DUMB do you have to be to leave a trail? To leave the lid in another room when it is a very distinctive lid - only 1 like it in the house?
I think what upsets me is that she put almost NO effort into hiding it or cleaning up after it so we wouldn't notice. THAT is offensive. NO child of mine should be that idiotic by the time they are a teenager. HOW will she EVER learn to function int he world if she can't even get a few choc chips out while I am sleeping or not home without leaving great big signs that shout "I TOOK YOUR CHOCOLATE WITHOUT ASKING!!!!!"????? Any roommate would run all over her!!! Esp when they pms at the same time!!!
(She took chips out twice - once last night while I was sleeping, then more while we were out this am. Maybe I could see botching it once, but twice? In less than 12 hours???)
Well, it wasn't all bad. husband and I got a good laugh out of it. What more can we ask for?
husband and I had to go run an errand today. I saw the lid for the choc chip container on the floor in the living room almost under the chair she was sitting in. I knew what it went to, and knew she had NOT asked to have some or to cook with them. So I handed her the lid, told her I wanted it back on whatever it went to because the containers were expensive and I didn't want the top ruined.
So we come home, I go to put stuff up in the bedroom and see brown lumps on the floor. NOT what my daughter wanted me to see. I was already irritable because the typical teen things have been piling up.
So I chewed her out. Let her know that I knew a LOT of the stuff she tries to get away with. Mostly it is stupid little stuff and I don't say a word. Things like drinking the cans of coke I had my name on so htat when I get a migraine there is a cold coke - often all that stays down for 24 hrs or more. Yes, I believe that they keep "exploding" in the fridge. Sure. Esp when there is NO sticky residue on the floor, the fridge, the seal on the fridge that no one but me cleans, etc.... Sure. Yeah. They exploded. Right. And that is why a half empty can is beside your chair.
So after I chewed on her a while, pointing out that I know she has done X, Y and Z, I proceeded to blow her mind. How?
I told her that she is just too dang SMART to leave evidence like that!! For crying out loud, if you have GOT to sneak something, how stupid is it to leave a trail on the floor = esp when the only other person home is the CAT???
husband was standing with us, because if he isn't there and I say one of the kids can't do something, they "forget" and slide it by him for a few days. (again, typical teen and rarely something I make a big deal about or even comment on to them- I just don't provide whatever they want associated with the rule.) He started to sputter when I told her she was just too dang smart to leave evidence like that - if you are going to sneak then take some pride in your stealth and don't leave evidence!
Seriously. ALL kids do this kind of thing. I did. Every chld I know did and every parent I know knows their kids did this stuff.
But how DUMB do you have to be to leave a trail? To leave the lid in another room when it is a very distinctive lid - only 1 like it in the house?
I think what upsets me is that she put almost NO effort into hiding it or cleaning up after it so we wouldn't notice. THAT is offensive. NO child of mine should be that idiotic by the time they are a teenager. HOW will she EVER learn to function int he world if she can't even get a few choc chips out while I am sleeping or not home without leaving great big signs that shout "I TOOK YOUR CHOCOLATE WITHOUT ASKING!!!!!"????? Any roommate would run all over her!!! Esp when they pms at the same time!!!
(She took chips out twice - once last night while I was sleeping, then more while we were out this am. Maybe I could see botching it once, but twice? In less than 12 hours???)
Well, it wasn't all bad. husband and I got a good laugh out of it. What more can we ask for?