I’m finding that I have been entirely too soft with my
oldest and his total laziness is beginning to frustrate me on a level I can’t
even put into words but y’all know I’ll damn sure try. Drew is a good kid, though. He never gets in trouble for his behavior at
school, he helps me with his brother and sister – not always without attitude,
but he does help. He has good morals and
values and respects adults. So we’re
good there but Jason and I have had to have the talk about where we went wrong
in obviously allowing this kind of apathy to develop. I think we’ve strived to give our children
everything we never had and it ultimately backfired. What is sending a kid to their room really
going to accomplish now’o days? He has a
tv, a wii, a computer, a cell phone, etc.
Ooooh, that’s affective! I’m
worried about his laziness as it has reached epic proportions. If I don’t remind him to change out of his
pajamas on occasion and to WASH, he’d just sit around in his own funk all the
while being perfectly content to do so.
There are two things that really get to me when it comes to my
kids. I hate being lied to – especially because
Drew’s a really bad liar and it insults my superior b.s. radar. The funny thing is, I consider him being a
bad liar to be one of his finer qualities.
It certainly makes my job easier.
I also hate when they don’t respect or take care of their things. Drew’s room is a techy gamer’s dream. He’s got everything in there! Jason is also a techy gamer type so he
understands Drew’s obsession and often bestows gifts upon him “just because”. He’ll get him a new game, a new piece for his
wii, etc. For his birthday Drew was sent a large amount
of cash from all his grandparents. When
it was all added up, the kid had a pretty good chunk of change to work
with. He went and bought a headset to go
with a game that I’d tell you all about if I cared enough to pay attention to
what the headset is used for. I gather
from his random chatter up there you can speak to whoever you’re gaming. He’s a smack talker and I once heard him
playing with someone and I heard him say:
“Yeah, I think they’ve got me muted, too”. I thought to myself: “I’d mute you too you little, shrill
trash-talker”. A few weeks go by and
every time I turn around he had that headset crammed in his ear. Then one day I’m walking passed his bedroom
door with a laundry basket in tow and notice he’s got a belt fashioned around
his head. So yeah…. I stop to check out what’s the story behind
that. He explains his headset is broken
so he’s using the belt to keep the headset on.
It’s broken because when he was done using it, he simply threw it onto
the floor, allowing it to either get stomped on or rolled over by his computer
chair. That just infuriated me!! I don’t even want to get started on the time
I got the distinct impression he was trying to guilt trip me about the fact
that his Iphone is only a 3GS. Ummm….. Are you kidding me, kid? He just doesn’t appreciate what he has and it’s
just got my feathers all ruffled at the moment.
I’m not sure which bugs me more: the lying or not respecting his things? Let me remind you of his two chores: trash, feed and water dogs. THAT’S IT!
This morning I was up before everyone.
I pass by where the dog’s food bowls sit and I notice they’re
empty. I’ve been downstairs the entire
time Drew’s been awake so I would have heard him rustling around in the dog
food bag and heard the pouring of food into bowls. Not to mention, Piper collects her food in
her mouth, wanders off into the living room, plops it all back out onto the
floor and eats it from there. Why? I don’t know…
It drives me completely insane but it’s something I’ve learned to live
with. So logic tells me, he hasn’t fed
or watered the dogs. I call him down to
ask and he blatantly lies to my face and says that he has. He goes to feed them and they immediately
begin snarfing down their food -- dead giveaway. So the argument commences and he’s following
through with the lie come hell or high water.
He has a signature “deer in headlights” look and usually flails his arms
around for emphasis when he’s lying. I
first asked him if he was aware that his eyes were turning brown because he’s
so full of crap. Then I point out to him
that in his 13 years, even when faced with undeniable proof of a lie, he’s
never once admitted to lying. So then I
asked him: “So you’re saying you’ve
never lied to me, ever?” He said: “No, I lie to you all the time just not about
this!” *audi audi audi* ß
(a lil’ onomatopoeia for ya there because that’s what it sounded like in my
head.) Basically, I’m a mad mom. I ask for very little and right now I feel
like I’m not being given the very little that I do ask for.
When my brother came to visit for a month, he sort of held a
mirror up to my face to show me that I was letting my kids run me. There was a day I spent cleaning pretty much
the entire day. Ryan and I went to pick
the kids up from school and when we got home the kids just threw their jackets,
backpacks and shoes on the floor. It was
a tornado trail from the front door to the kitchen. I said nothing and it was clear I have
accepted this behavior and just assumed my role as the martyr/maid. Ryan looked at the trail and called all the
kids back downstairs to say: “Pick this
crap up! Uncle Gogo’s about to start
bustin’ skulls!” The looks on their
faces was priceless -- Fun Uncle Gogo just got real. Reid started calling Ryan Gogo and it just
stuck in case you’re curious about that.
In that moment I realized that I was letting them walk all over me and
some things needed to change. So today I’m
going to take a tip from Uncle Gogo and tighten up the reigns around here. I feel a change in the air and momma’s about
to bring the hammer down. I don’t have
my own trusty notepad like my mom did but I bet if I asked her she’s still got
several laying around she’d send me. I
think it would almost cathartic to begin their new list of chores in the same
fashion I received mine. To be mean, I
should text Drew his chores on his crappy 3GS -- now
that borders on poetic! It’s go time
kiddies!
