Away From Politics--What Else Is Driving Me Crazy?

[MissBrattified]

THIS:

*photos removed*



I am SO at the end of my rope with my girls and their room.

In fairness to them: (And these are the only things I can come up with in their favor)

**They share a room, and it isn't huge. It isn't all THAT small, either.
**________ is fairly neat, _____ is messy, but it all seems to bleed over. (names removed to protect the guilty)


I waver between helping them clean up, threatening them and wanting to pick up every.single.thing that is on the floor and throw it in the trash. The only thing that stops me from the latter is knowing that I'll be the one who'll have to replace the lost shoes and school uniforms.

What on earth would you do or have you done about messy kid rooms? Jeffrey isn't messy. His room gets a little askew from time to time. Unlike the girls, I'll tell him to go clean it up and he will make his bed, put everything where it belongs and it looks neat as a pin.

Ugh. I'm just so mad about the rooms. Not only that, but Sarah stuck pictures onto her wall with duct tape. DUCT TAPE. I told her to take them down, and instead of taking her time, she ripped some of them off--and the paint with it. Probably my fault for not doing it myself, but still.... So now I have to repaint her wall.

--And ANOTHER thing that completely baffles me: Why do they keep taking the sheets off their beds? I hate to sleep without sheets!

I was a neat kid. The most my mother ever did for me was fold clothes and put them away. I kept my room and desk area very neat and organized, so I cannot identify with this messy tendency.

SUGGESTIONS???? Would you make them sleep outside on the trampoline for a couple of months? Because that's what I'm thinking about....

Do you think this is normal? Do your kids' rooms look like this??? 0_o Would you just shut the door and walk away? Or do something about it?

[Azzan]

I'd say it's fairly normal for some kids.

And if it helps, I've seen worse!

[Ferd]

There is a third rail between cleaning up and tossing everything.


Just take the stuff left on the floor. It becomes yours. If they want it, they have to earn it back.

[Titus2woman]

Five grown boys here and each one was in a different place on the neaty-messy scale. I am a natural neat-freak and always have been. I fold my underwear and roll my hose... I turn shampoo and conditioner bottles around on the shelf so that labels face out... Cans in the kitchen are organized by type and size... My messy kids drove me NUTS!

Now that they are grown and gone I realize how short their time with me really was and how much of it I spent on this conflict. Many/most of the negative and truly unkind things I ever said to my children were about their messiness. I remember thinking how much nicer life would be without them to constantly ruin my enviornment.

Wanna know what I think now? Bet you are already guessing in your perceptive way...

Yep, I'd trade every unstained carpet, every unchipped dish and every unripped piece of clothing to have those days back.

After your girls are gone you can clean that room, fix it any way you want and even repaint the walls... But until then unless it's a health hazard I say just go with the flow... They will soon enough learn that having to dig through piles to find stuff makes life harder.... and they'll deal with that or not in their own way.

In the mean time you will save on unnecessary conflict and use more time for the fun things in life

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Azzan

I'd say it's fairly normal for some kids.

And if it helps, I've seen worse!

My thinking is, how on earth are they going to keep an entire house clean someday if they can't keep a single room clean? I'm sure their future husbands will have expectations of clean clothing put away, made beds and clean floors. At the very least.

Originally Posted by Ferd

There is a third rail between cleaning up and tossing everything.


Just take the stuff left on the floor. It becomes yours. If they want it, they have to earn it back.

I tried this one time--I bagged everything up and put it out in my shed. But, they actually needed things that were in the bags (school notebooks, shoes, etc.) and so I caved within a few days. My fault.

I did think about removing everything except their school uniforms and school shoes. Church clothes, they'd have to wear whatever is actually hanging in the closet.

What do you suggest for earning it back?

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Five grown boys here and each one was in a different place on the neaty-messy scale. I am a natural neat-freak and always have been. I fold my underwear and roll my hose... I turn shampoo and conditioner bottles around on the shelf so that labels face out... Cans in the kitchen are organized by type and size... My messy kids drove me NUTS!

Now that they are grown and gone I realize how short their time with me really was and how much of it I spent on this conflict. Many/most of the negative and truly unkind things I ever said to my children were about their messiness. I remember thinking how much nicer life would be without them to constantly ruin my enviornment.

Wanna know what I think now? Bet you are already guessing in your perceptive way...

Yep, I'd trade every unstained carpet, every unchipped dish and every unripped piece of clothing to have those days back.

After your girls are gone you can clean that room, fix it any way you want and even repaint the walls... But until then unless it's a health hazard I say just go with the flow... They will soon enough learn that having to dig through piles to find stuff makes life harder.... and they'll deal with that or not in their own way.

In the mean time you will save on unnecessary conflict and use more time for the fun things in life

I really like you.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

I really like you.

I like you too

[Cindy]

Looks pretty normal to me. Do they know you will eventually clean it up?

[Sweet Pea]

Originally Posted by Cindy

Looks pretty normal to me. Do they know you will eventually clean it up?

This might be the key. They know what your limit is.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Ferd

There is a third rail between cleaning up and tossing everything.


Just take the stuff left on the floor. It becomes yours. If they want it, they have to earn it back.