The man's side of it!

In my last post I took away the kids video games, and the family access to the Internet telling them that if they didn't learn to pick up after themselves or do their chores that the cable DVR was going to be next. I guess they thought I was kidding, because the next couple of days the family room was still a mess and we still had to nag them to do their chores. So true to my word, when they were all out of the house I removed the DVR. I didn't bother to hook the TV or DVD player back up either. When they all rolled in that day and went into the family room to watch their favorite programs they were quite shocked to see a big empty space where the DVR was. There was much complaining and some crying and when they complained that they couldn't watch TV at all, I told them I didn't care, deal with it! Fortunately for them the oldest was able to figure out how to hook what they had left back up. Then when they were all together again I told them the next thing to go would be the DVD player, and after that the TV itself.

I must be onto something here. I walked into the family room this morning before anyone else was up and guess what? It was clean! The kids had done their chores the other day, and without complaining. I told them how happy I was to see their cooperation, they then asked me when they could get the stuff back and I said we'll see how it goes for a few days before I consider that.

I guess us old dogs can teach Teenagers new tricks. I just hope it lasts.

You can ping this entry by using http://www.twhgrafx.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2216 .