dc koop

My daughter gives two of her three girls a set of chores to do around the house. The third girl is only six so is excused. She also pays them for the chores. Seems to work pretty well. Apart from each of their bedrooms completely occupied by stuffed animals the rooms are otherwise clean and tidy


As a kid I was a complete slob but after a few years in the army I was cured of that for good

Mallory

It all seems to go downhill after about age 15.

dc koop

Yep ! Three years to go for the eldest and five years for the second eldest

katzgar

teenagers are why they invented military schools

SultanOfSwing

Around 12 seems to be the tipping point. Ages 8-10 are IMO the most 'fun' - they are still capable of having a laugh and being silly. They they turn 11/12 and start trying to be too serious, the head goes up the arse and well, mine's almost 18 and it hasn't come back out yet.

Pulaski

Little Miss P apparently peaked early, around 6 or 7.

moneypenny20

My youngest daughter at 14/15 was a very clean and tidy human whilst 'living' in a hovel. I used to go in and blitz but finding things I gagged over I stopped and just shut the door. If she walked out of it and left the door open, I'd go and close it. She became a neat freak at 17. Her OCD dust free sister moved out with her ****wit of a boyfriend at 20 and they house shared with two other guys and became a slob. Relationship thankfully broke up and she moved back home and has remained a slob. She keeps the door shut and she does much of the grocery shopping so it's fine.

SultanOfSwing

I think girls do, my daughter is the same. 6 going on 60.

themadpooper

Intriguing to read these stories, I'm not yet a father but I can't imagine myself putting up with the crap I've read in this thread. If you're letting them run the only personal space they have like a personal toilet, what hope is there for them when they grow up? And basic household chores should be mandatory I'm afraid, especially as teenagers. Where are they getting their values from if they're not being asked to contribute? I was always made to help up with the washing and drying of plates after dinner or other household chores. I'd get weekly pocket money so helping out was my contribution for that

SultanOfSwing

Most of it is exaggerated, of course.

The room might be a mess but if it remains a mess, he gets all his stuff taken away so all he gets to do is sit in his room and look at the mess until he cleans it.

I'm not paying him to put his shit away though. That would be like me asking for a raise because I came into work on time every morning

Jerseygirl

A messy room is the only problem I can recall with my daughter. She wasn't cheeky, didn't get into any sort of trouble, didn't do drugs, was a good student etc. If a messy room is the only problem you have when you have kids...I reckon you've got off very lightly.

SultanOfSwing

There are degrees of messy. Did you know that if a cheeseburger is left in a toy box for an undetermined amount of time, it turns into a stone?

Jerseygirl

I have never allowed food to be taken upstairs...a throwback to my mum's house rules. The degree of messyness was simply clothes and belongings strewn all over.

SultanOfSwing

Neither have we, but children are resourceful. I wasn't allowed to smoke and drink when I was 15 but do you think that stopped me?

I'll take sneaking the odd chicken leg or burger into his room over 20 Marlboros and a fifth of vodka any day

Pulaski

Little Miss P's room is often untidy, in the extreme, but isn't dirty, nor is there food waste. ..... She has a fairly finely tuned sense of what is "dirty" but is completely clueless about "untidy".