Parenting Teens: The Clothes Battle

There is an upside to having just two kids in the house! Let the battle for a neat laundry room begin. We live in an old house that is seriously closet challenged. Ichabod lives in the basement.  He doesn’t have a closet but since he would not store his clean clothes in it anyway that is not a problem. He has a dresser but it is too difficult to move the clothes 6 feet as the crow flies from the washroom to the dresser. He has a clean clothes basket in the washroom.  Everyone has a clean clothes basket that in theory was supposed to travel from the basement every Tuesday night upstairs filled with clean clothes and return empty sometime before Monday when I start the wash. Reality is no one (meaning those under 21) toted those baskets up to their bedrooms where the closets and dressers yearn to store those clothes.  The clothes would be tossed over the laundry room as people searched through the baskets for their clothes.  By the end of the week the laundry room looked like a bomb exploded in it. To complicate the situation I couldn’t tell Princess’ clothes from Ichabod’s. On them Princess’ clothes looked very feminine and Ichabod very masculine, not to mention the sizes were very different. As I pulled them out of the dryer I couldn’t tell them apart.

Princess is now at college and I know exactly whose clothes are tossed over the laundry room. I am now thinking through the most effective plan to motivate Ichabod to keep his clean clothes in his basket.

Anyone have a clever suggestion?

 

Parenting Teens: Too Clever By Half

 Ichabod is into bodybuilding. He drinks this protein powder mix that comes in these big barrel shaped jars and he was always leaving the jars on the kitchen counter.

I have gotten tired of telling the 18 year old to put the barrel like jars back in the closet and the jar got tired of me complaining about it. Evidently the jar now sees being left on the counter as an opportunity to see more of the world. It has visited the shoe box and resided on the piano and occupied space on the book shelf.

For some reason it annoys Ichabod that his jar of protein stuff was bored on my kitchen counter and it now goes walk about. Why this is I have no idea. He has taken to putting the jar back in the closet so it can no longer visit other areas of the house.

I feel sorry for the jar of protein powder. I know for a fact it was planning to start visiting the second floor and perhaps even make a trip to visit the mail box.

Parenting Teens: Mom Let Me Kick You

That is not what tech princess said. Her exact words were,”Please hold this pillow for me so I can practice my round house kicks.” I like a dummy, held the little furry round orange pillow in front of my chest as if it was the inch blocks of wood they use in class.

It wasn’t.

Parenting Teens: A Few Things I have Learned From My Kids

1) Guinea pigs can indeed be neutered

2) The kids can go sledding for hours in the snow with no boots or real winter coats or wearing a hat and not get sick.

3) Poutine is not a dirty word. Canadians will not be surprised that this is so

4) It is possible to carry on several conversations, employing a multitude of medias and keep up with them all as long as a parent is not trying to communicate with said teen at the same time.

5) Love grows.

What have you learned from your kids?

Parenting Teens: You Are Being Ridicules

This is a phase my teens toss out in the heat of disagreement from time to time. (Yes, we disagree from time to time, loudly I might add. If this never happens with your teens count your blessings and quietly return to NeverLand)

This phase is usually tossed into the conversation right after I have pronounced some form of discipline. For example: You have to go to school five days a week, on time, except for one late day per week, to get the opportunity to used an available car on the weekend. In response to this parental fiat I was deemed to be RIDICULES. My expectation is just short of unconstitutional and unreasonable because it is not doable.

Some parents might think this phase to be rude or disrespectful. I think it is… permission. I smile upon its utterance…the teens quall slightly at their strategic mistake.

When you have a mother who is annoyed with you, who has a creative and innovative mind, it is so not a smart move to tell her she is ridicules.

She just might decide to prove your pronouncement correct … (cue scary laughter)