Sandra Dodd

This is a little long but very well worth reading. It's by Gail
Higgins, reporting a cool thing that happened at her house (many cool
things and one very special thing), and then sharing a contrasting set
of parental experiences. This might be worth passing on to others on
the edges of your life. If you have one it might help, you'll know.

It's about peace, and "chores" and teenagers.

http://gail-hummingbirdhaven.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-clean-kitchenor-is-it.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/kja8nl




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Pam Sorooshian

On 7/23/2009 4:59 PM, Sandra Dodd wrote:
> It's about peace, and "chores" and teenagers.
>
> http://gail-hummingbirdhaven.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-clean-kitchenor-is-it.html
> or
> http://tinyurl.com/kja8nl
>
>
It was great to read. I was going to say that parents should not
necessarily expect that their unschooled teens will clean house while
parents sleep, but it has happened here, too, so maybe it is something
to expect. But, still, I do want to be upfront about the fact that I'm
more likely to wake up to more mess than a clean kitchen. And, my kids
DO get angry and raise their voices - I have three very passionate and
dramatic daughters and they love each other deeply, they are each
others' best friends, but they do have intense disagreements sometimes,
too.

What we do NOT have is anything even remotely resembling rebellion or
parent-hating or wanting to get away. We spend a lot of time together,
they want their parents with them to hang out, go places, have fun
together with them and their friends. Yesterday we spent the day at the
county fair - Rosie, Roxana, three of their friends, me, my husband. In
the evening, Roya joined us and our family all went to a Moody Blues
concert together and then spent another couple of hours at the fair,
having fun together. We took photo booth pictures - something teenagers
like to do with their friends. Our girls wanted their parents in with
them. I'm LOVING these years of having teenagers and, now, young adults,
as children. The ONLY down side is the possibility of them moving away,
to follow their own interests and passions. But, even that possibility
is a whole lot less difficult to face when you know your kid will want
to stay in touch.

We're not big on housework, and I do more than the rest of the family.
But everybody steps in to help when I'm obviously busy or when I ask.
And it isn't at ALL unusually for me to come home from somewhere and
find the dishwasher unloaded or the bathroom counters and toilet cleaned
or, or the dining room table cleared of clutter, or something like that.

-pam

Ed Wendell

I've started replying to emails that make comments about teens - such as this one that just showed up at the bottom of a post on another list:

- Children are a blessing :)
(until they become teenagers lol)

with a short 2-3 line statement that my teen is fantastic and wonderful; we have a great relationship; we enjoy each other's company and doing things together, he is kind and considerate, etc.

Just trying to plant seeds of thought along the way - even if it only helps one parent child relationship.

Lisa




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Pam Sorooshian

You might also say something about how it hurts when teens see/hear
comments like that.

-pam

On 7/27/2009 5:50 AM, Ed Wendell wrote:
> - Children are a blessing:)
> (until they become teenagers lol)
>
> with a short 2-3 line statement that my teen is fantastic and wonderful; we have a great relationship; we enjoy each other's company and doing things together, he is kind and considerate, etc.
>
> Just trying to plant seeds of thought along the way - even if it only helps one parent child relationship.
>
>

tbozek77

I also enjoyed this article and wanted to share my joy. I left a diaper on the floor from this morning and completely forget about it. while my 23 month old was playing with his cars he noticed it and walked it to the garbage and went rt back to playing i was so proud, and though this isnt much - its baby steps! :o)



--- In [email protected], "Ward Family" <xtr581602@...> wrote:
>
> On 7/23/2009 4:59 PM, Sandra Dodd wrote:
> > It's about peace, and "chores" and teenagers.
> >
> > http://gail-hummingbirdhaven.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-clean-kitchenor-is-it.html
> > or
> > http://tinyurl.com/kja8nl
>
> I enjoyed this link too and to top it off beautifully I then opened the dishwasher to empty only to find someone (of three lovely teens) had already done it. :-)
>
> Julie
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>