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Bnmason31's picture

Submitted by Bnmason31 on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 1:03pm

We've tried everything, played the game of checking when she says she's done putting her laundry away; gave her the benefit of the doubt; grounded her; even pulled the 'I guess you can't do the one chore you have, we don't expect anything from you' (no it wasn't necessarily right, but it was another attempt to get her to put her laundry away!) She was made to actually wash her own laundry for the first time and told to put it away as well, I go in to get her athletic wear to be washed for tonight's game and there are still two laundry baskets full of clean clothes and a huge pile of dirty on her bathroom floor. I'm going to pull my hair out!!!!

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Ommy's picture

Submitted by Ommy on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 1:07pm

her clothes her responsibility, sink or swim, let her learn life will smack her in the face, if that means she is the smelly kid for a few days she will learn.

attempting_to_maintain_composure's picture

Submitted by attempting_to_m... on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 1:20pm

I agree. Kids can be mean to one another. If she has to be the smelly kid, so be it.

Honestly, that is what got me washing my own laundry and taking better care of it. My mom handed the laundry reigns over to me completely when I was 12 (before then, I started helping her with my laundry when I was 9 or 10). I got lazy about it and, rather than fight me, my mom just let go and let me do what I wanted as far as laundry went. Eventually, kids started making fun of me for the state of my clothing. It got old very fast and I eventually just started taking better care of my clothes.

Bnmason31's picture

Submitted by Bnmason31 on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 1:35pm

Yeah we tried that too and it ended up her dad got fed up once her clothes were a foot from the ceiling! But the main issue is that she doesn't care because if it comes down to it, she asks her mom to send her clothes. But I do think I'll try that route again. I was thinking of sitting her down, not mad, and just talking to her, ask why she doesn't do what she's told and what I/we can do to help. I did my own laundry when I was 10 as well, if not before. I know I can't expect her to be as I was or do what I did for my mom at her age, to be considerate and help mom because I felt her irritation of working and coming home to more work. But she makes me feel I'm wrong to expect anything of her at all.....

Ommy's picture

Submitted by Ommy on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 1:38pm

just tell her if she doesnt complete xyz, then she doesnt get abc (tv, cell phone, sports, rides to friends, ect)

oneoffour's picture

Submitted by oneoffour on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 2:33pm

Dr Rosemund (I love this guy) would say to tell her "As you are unable to do your one chore you need more sleep. So you are going to bed (remove TV and computer from her room)@ 6pm. And every day your chore goes undone you will be in bed 10 minutes earlier. So no chore tomorrow? 5:50pm. Saturday and no laundry done? Bed @ 5:40pm." When you are able to stay awake long enough to do your one chore you can stay up later."

She was staring you down and you blinked. Sorry.

simifan's picture

Submitted by simifan on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 8:38pm

give her three outfits OF YOUR CHOOSING. She obviously has too many clothes. When she can take care of those, she gets one more back, etc.

knitjersey's picture

Submitted by knitjersey on Fri, 05/25/2012 - 1:35pm

My mom told me when I was 12 that if I couldn't get my clothes in the laundry room on time and put the clean ones away, she wouldn't do the laundry anymore. Needless to say, at 12 I started washing my own clothes