Yesterday, school was cancelled because of snow. SS13 was home alone all day while we were at work. It was to be their first day back after the 2 week Winter break. He sat in front of MTV all day, and even built a fire! Apparently he called SO and asked for permission, and that was A-OK with him.

Do you think he could have managed to do some shoveling so that we could get our cars back in the driveway? No. He didn't even clear the steps in front of the house. I get home, park in the street, trudge through the snow and put my things down, then head back out to do the shoveling. An hour and a half later, SS13 comes out in basketball shorts and sneakers without socks and makes a veiled attempt to help, probably hoping that I'll get pissed off at his idiocy and send him back inside.

I did my best to bite my tongue and ignore him as he slipped and fell in the snow several times. Once I had to tell him to quit throwing snow into the driveway that I was working on clearing. He bitched and moaned about the shovel he was using and said it didn't work. Asked where the other shovels were (surely expecting me to go get him one) and I curtly told him they were in the garage. Apparently that was more work than he was willing to do, so he kept flailing about with the shovel he had.

Eventually he goes back up to the house without a word, and I'm thinking he finally wised up and decided to put on his boots and snow clothes. Nope! He was hungry. After 20 minutes or so, he sticks his head out the door and asks if there are any shovels in the house. I was seriously considering choking the kid! Why would we keep shovels in the house? Again I told him they were in the garage. Ten minutes go by and he comes back out with the garage door opener, spends another 15 minutes in the garage, then back up to the house to return the opener, then back out to his newly acquired shovel, that still didn't make a difference in the amount of snow he was able to move.

He whined that the snow had turned to ice. Well no shit, Sherlock, it's getting dark and should have been done in the daytime while the sun was out. He complained about being cold, well duh! He wanted to know when his Dad would be home. I was biting my tongue the entire time. I really wanted to tell him to just go back inside and let me do the shoveling in peace. That he wasn't helping, and was only irritating me more than he already had by not doing it in the first place. But that's exactly what the lazy brat wanted.

I was anxious for his Dad to come home, to see that I had to do the shoveling on my own, expecting him to say something about the way he was dressed, maybe even reprimand him for not doing it earlier. Nope, he came home and didn't say a peep to the little brat! He just grabbed a shovel and helped me finish up.

My sons always had the driveway and stairs cleared before I got home. I did the same when I was a kid. We weren't allowed to play or watch TV until it was finished. Why is it too much to ask his children to do the same? I didn't say a word about it until later that evening, as I was cleaning up the mess the kid had made by the fireplace. I asked if he had asked permission to build a fire and SO said he told him it was OK, the boy was cold. Then I went off and said, maybe you should have told him to put on some fucking clothes and go out and shovel, work up a sweat for a change. He didn't say a word *grrrrrrr*