it was a cold, cold weekend! winter has finally caught up with us and i'm not super happy about it. this morning was gray and foggy.
(view out our backyard)
heidi and hannah came over to watch movies on saturday night. hannah stayed the night with lex. the stipulation for them coming over was that lex clean her room. she was supposed to have cleaned it last weekend and never did, even though she got to go out. she piled all her clothes into a laundry basket and called it good. i call that lying. by tuesday, the clothes were all over the floor, again. i told her then that she would not be going anywhere until her room was cleaned. i had thought about what i would do if she asked to have a friend over and came up with, yes a friend can come over and keep you company while you clean your room.
well, h and h came over, and the room is still filthy. so here's my parenting question, does the childs room matter? we've gone back and forth on this one, yes, it's her space, but it's still in our house. and often when i am ready to do laundry i can't because i have no clue what's clean or whats dirty in her room. and yes, i know i could make her do her own laundry, and i probably should but... i don't know. and i hate seeing her filthy room. and i would like it clean. so i made her give me her phone today and until her room gets cleaned. she was super happy about that.
second parenting issue of the weekend is dinner. on saturday night as dinner was cooking (still had an hour+), lexi got home from cheer camp. she was, understandably hungry and made a nutella half sandwich. i was fine with that, but then she made a second. i reminded her that dinner was cooking and please not to ruin her dinner to which she informed me that she didn't want to eat our dinner, she was fine with her nutella. should i really have to force feed my 15 year old?
and the babies are even worse. they do not sit at dinner. they do not eat dinner. they run around, want daddy to hold them, play, anything but sit and eat with the family. just like everything else, this problem started small and i knew i should squash it as it was starting. but i didn't and now it's driving me crazy!!! time outs, tears, frustration, that was our dinner last night. one parent thinks we should make them something they would like to eat and one parent says they should eat what the family eats. what do you think? also, i think if they don't eat dinner, they don't eat anything else that night, right?
so needless to say, the weekend ended worse than it started, but it was still good. i came up with a new creative way to sleep (propped on 3 couch pillows) and slept pretty good last night. we put addie to bed early because she didn't get a "rest" (1:00 church) but kept frankie up because she slept for an hour and a half in the car after driving home from church and she was so cute and fun. she sings and performs for us now, she is growing and getting so smart! we all had fun playing with her and she loved being the center of attention. maybe i can even figure out how to upload a video from my iphone of her being cute.
(but i doubt it)
today we'll go to the library, do laundry, tidy up from the weekend, meet w/colleen, then the big kids get home 2 hours early, so maybe we should go do something?
i would like to do something at the st. mary's hospital, but that's just me.
3 comments:
Oh Michelle, sorry.
#5 will be here soon and you will be happier.
but since you asked I think teens should keep their rooms clean and dotheir laundry. However was not always firm on that. It was the rule so when I did it they thought I was being nice so that's something.
I didn't ever force big kids to eat with us which made Rob mad...choose your battles, but babies can and should sit nicely and eat something.
Good luck
OK, here's how it works in our household since it's almost like yours (you know much older kids to young babies) Anyway, I don't make the girls do their own laundry, but if they can't get their clothes to the laundry room, they don't get clean. I will wash and dry the clothes but then they have to fold them and put them away. So the only thing that bothered my girls was not having any fresh underwear. They learned real fast to put their dirty clothes in the laundry.
As to the babies not eating what's for dinner, we've just in the past say, oh, 2 weeks that we can get Lily to eat with us. No, she never eats what I've made. Well, for the most part anyway. Lily is a bit of a vegetarian. So while I made pork chops, chicken rice and steamed broccoli, she had cocoa puffs for dinner. And, I'm ok with that. She's getting something in her body. They're too young at this point to withhold food from them. Teenagers? Heck yes! Annnnnd, we're starting a new rule. Lauren and Kathryn get to make dinner for the family once each week. It's good for them.
sorry this has been so long! I just totally get it with teenagers and babies in the house. :D Miss you!
Clean room is a difficult one. My mom always tried to get us to have a clean room... it rarely happened. Now, I am the complete opposite of what I was when I was a teenager. I actually can't believe I used to have such a messy room! lol We had to do our own laundry, but maybe if you make her get her laundry to the laundry room then she would care more. If she wants a messy room, then she has to get the laundry to you... cuz you shouldn't have to waste your time picking through her clothes. :) Or else she will just have to wear dirty stinky clothes... ;) And if it is just too much to get her to clean her room... just make sure her door is closed... ;) I'm sure you will do the right thing... cuz the right thing is whatever you want! :)
And I'm lucky that Abby eats pretty much everything. She just always has, we never gave her an option I guess. There are a few meals we know she won't eat (that are a little spicy) so I get her something else then... but I'm not about to cook 2 separate things for dinner each night... maybe I'm just lazy ;) and she has to sit at the table while we eat. Once she is done though, we usually let her get down... otherwise she gets annoying ;) But she sits with us for most of it. If Abby is a stink at dinner, she gets a time out and then is usually fine when she comes back (thanks to Tony). She's never not eaten dinner, but I'm pretty sure I would let her have a snack before bed? Or try the dinner again. Definitely no treats though... she gets a treat a lot of nights...
BTW, I can probably help you get the video from your phone to your computer... because apparently I'm a little bit nerdy I guess... ;)
And, I think you should do something at the hospital soon too... Your baby has to come before mine!! :-p
And you are a great mom, don't forget! *hugs*
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