I'm a pain. I'll tell you why he thinks that. I've been on all my kids lately to keep their belongings picked up and put away because I'm tired of seeing it and I'm tired of having to be the one to clean up after them, especially when I do the house cleaning on Fridays. Over spring break I had each of them clean a section of the house that I usually clean so they'd know what it was like for me. I was going to walk them through every step I take to get the house clean.
Zach had both bathrooms and started out okay but ended up complaining that his back hurt from all the bending and sweeping of the stairs. Then Dolly had to clean the kitchen and was upset that she had to start by washing all the dirty dishes that she and her brothers had left in the sink the few days prior. "Why do I have to wash them when they're not mine?" Gee, I say that same thing every Friday. Ty had the living room and was saying, "Oh, this isn't so bad," until I got nit-picky with him about not picking up this or that and not dusting completely.
None of the kids were happy with all the work they had to put in on the one section of the house that they had to clean. Imagine if I'd have made each of them clean the entire house. For a couple of days they were really good about keeping everything picked up and put away but that faded over time. For the past few days I've been really annoyed because I cleaned on Friday for Dolly's birthday and party on Saturday and you can't even tell now that I did any cleaning.
All the kids have messes in the living room, their rooms, MY room, the bathrooms, and the kitchen. I've asked repeatedly for them to pick up their things and I always get the same answer, "I will." It's really frustrating walking around the house and having to walk over something or push something else out of the way. Now, though, I've had enough of it and that's why Zach got mad at me.
I went in the kitchen this evening to make dinner and I was finding their toys and games and whatnot all over the kitchen. I asked Zach to pick up the Monopoly game he was playing last night and he said he didn't take it out. I reminded him that he was the one who asked if his friends could come in a play Monopoly and that I'd like the game picked up. According to Zach, "Dolly was the one who actually took it out so she should put it away." Oh really? Fine. I picked up the game and tossed it on the floor in the living room along with everything else that was on the table that didn't belong. I wasn't about to have to question who left this or that where it didn't belong so it all went.
I started to go into my speech about how tired I am of them just leaving things around the house and not caring that I'm the one who has to clean it up every week. Then I stopped mid-sentence, looked around the room, threw up my hands, told them to make their own dinner, grabbed my belongings and came upstairs to my room. When I came up here I remembered that Zach left his mattress on my floor from last night. He's scared of a video he watched and didn't want to sleep in his own room.
I yelled downstairs that he needed to get his stuff out of my room or it was going to go flying down the stairs. That's when he yelled at me. "I KNOW! I'M GOING TO PICK IT UP! WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO DIE IN A HOLE! YOU'RE A PAIN!" I'm a pain?! I'm the one constantly being ignored and I'm the one having to clean up messes and wash dishes that aren't mine. I'm also the one who gets asked for a dollar for ice cream at lunchtime on Wednesdays, I'm the one who lets them have friends spend the night on weekends, I'm the one who buys little gifts and snacks just because, I'm the one who drives to baseball practice, I'm the one who goes on field trips and brings lunch to school on birthdays, I'm the one who offers hugs when they're needed, I'm the one who gives up my private space when nightmares are on the horizon, and I'm the one everyone runs to when they want or need something but I'M A PAIN because I want my home to look nice and I want my kids to follow rules and be responsible for their own belongings.
Well, this PAIN has had enough so I'm going to sit in my room by myself and not allow anyone else in here for any reason. I'm going to let the kids figure out what that problem is and why I'm not allowing them to be in my company. And I'm going to continue to come up to my room every afternoon when they return home from school. I'm done talking, asking, yelling, arguing and being called names. Something's gotta give, and it's not going to be me. I know, I'm a pain that way.
Until next time... peace to all.
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