Joanie2

When I was young we live with my grandmother for a while. She decided one day to pick up all the stuff we left lying out. That included hair brushes, socks, toys, etc but did not include school supplies or books. We never saw any of it again. Did we learn our lessons? Nope. One day a few years later my sister and I got real nosy about what was hidden in her spare dresser where we found everything she had collected. I didn't take this tact with my sons -- I simply moved their stuff to their rooms and closed the door.

JudyBsquared

I read a book about dealing with adolescents and the best advice I came away with was "don't overreact." I also told myself this will pass and we'll be on to a new stage or crisis.

madamekelly

I always made my DD's earn their stuff back! Housekeeping lessons, anyone? :thumbup:

seasaw2mch

I understand just what you are saying. I finally bought a large trash can (one you use outside) and put in in the hallway. Told them if they wanted to keep their crap then it better not be left on the floor. They didn't believe me, so after they went off to school, I cleaned house! anything and every thing that was on the floor went into the trash can ready for the dump. When they got home they were so surprised to see how clean their rooms were. But when they opened their draws and closet (Knowing mom had put things away for them) the shock hit they like a ton of bricks. From that point on, house rules were, if you like it you better put it up or it goes to the dump, no exceptions!
Oh yea I forget this happened one year 2 days after Christmas so all the stuff they had gotten for Christmas, well it went to the dump as far as they knew but since this was brand new stuff I gave it to good will. I know there was some child out there that would take better care of it.

Ramona Byrd

I tried to raise my kids well, but one daughter wasn't quite a slob, while the other one was Miss Neatnic herself, even rolled her ankle socks and put them in the drawer divided by color!!

Now she has 3 rescue dogs and even they know that certain things aren't allowed!! Other daughter is a pack rat, but organized and can find anything at a moment's notice.

I'm also a pack rat, believe strongly that everything has its place and everything in its own place. Unfortunately, that rarely translates to the same place all the time. But I love my kids and they all love me, call and visit often and thank me for being kinda strict in raising them.

mshawii

We had two bathrooms and each kid had thier own bedroom. I closed the door to both. I swished the toilets and washed the sinks, but the "crap" stayed where it was. Next came "Mom do you know where "this" or "that" is? "Nope, but you might check the floor in your room or the bathroom!" Next was "I don't have any clean clothes!!!" " guess you better learn how to use the washing machine then!" Didn't take but a few weeks to get them to do their own laundry because I was not their maid, I was their Mom. Both married in their 30's and it was a good thing they knew how to do laundry, and cook!

postal packin' mama

A lady I worked with got so exaperated with her kids ignoring her pleas for them to pick up their clothes that she took a staple gun and stapled them to the floor, right where they'd dropped them!

quilt3311

Sound like typical teens to me--was amazing how smart I got as they aged. grin. Now they regularly come and ask how to, or what do I do when. This began happening at about age 25 - 30 years of age.

grandma Janice

when my first 3 were teens, I had a toddler to deal with all day. sometimes when they pushed too far, I would run away. Since we lived out in the country, I would fix their dinner(because i didn't want to neglect my DH), go to my room and slam the door to show my displeasure, and stay there and read or something while the kids had to explain to their dad what caused mom to leave. As for their rooms, I mostly left them be until I deemed them unhealthy or a danger of spontaneous combustion. Then I would clean out the clutter and put them out of their use for a while. Once I cleaned out a mess and found a baggie under a bunch of clothes with a tuna sandwich that had started foaming and I think very close to exploding. Oh the joys of raising teens.

Slow2Sew

OK, you win the 'icky' prize!