Teenagers are known for their messy bedrooms. Parents worry.
Why?
If a teenager does not share a room with a sibling, why do parents care? What is at stake here? Not much.
Parents send their children into the moral cesspool of the tax-funded, politically correct high school. Then they gripe about the kids’ messy rooms. The parents have their priorities scrambled.
This about this.
To get her 16-year-old daughter Jessica to clean up, says Kathleen Jerrils of Newport News, Va., “I tried asking her, ‘What will your friends think when they see your room?’ The friends didn’t care.” She offered to repaint Jessica’s blue bedroom black, Jessica’s preference. But Jessica was reluctant to move out long enough to get the painting done. Ms. Jerrils offered to buy Jessica the pet rat she wanted. That motivated Jessica to try to clean up, but she says the task was so overwhelming that she became distracted, thinking, “This is going to take forever.” She still hasn’t gotten the rat.
Jessica says the mess annoys her, too, especially when she is rushing to get ready for school and can only find one of the shoes she wants to wear. But she has other priorities. School often consumes 10 hours a day, followed by several hours of homework. She devotes hours more to extracurricular activities including academic, debate and speech competitions; school plays; and charity fund-raisers. After all that, “I don’t rank cleaning my room as something that I really need to get done,” she says.
Here is a decent girl whose parents send her into an indoctrination center that by law must use humanistic textbooks, which are written by Establishment leftists. The center also assigns hours of homework. But the parents are upset about her messy room.
Someone needs to tell the parents: “Get your child out of the public school.” But no one has this authority.
A messy room is the least of teenagers’ problems. Higher on the list is the poor judgment of their parents.
If you think I’m wrong, read this: The Children Trap.
I have a totally different view.
That 16 yr old does not make payments on that house or pay rent for that room. The parent "bribing" the kid says she's already lost control and respect. It's the parent's house, and the parent's rule. Disorganization is one thing and lots of people are, but this is just laziness on her part and allowing it to continue like this, so she doesn't have to deal with her daughter's tantrum most likely, is irresponsible. She needs to start being the parent and putting her foot down!
It doesn't matter if it's "her room". There is no expectation of privacy unless she dressing. It's the parents' home/investment. If this girl can't find something she needs as she says, is she too lazy to throw garbage in the trash as well? How about attracting bugs –or some kind of infestation–or mold? This is a danger to the whole family then. This kid is just lazy! She should obey her parent and learn to be civilized. What if she works in an office ..and the company brings clients around. How far is she going to go in that company when they see things strewn everywhere? Or if she owns her own business..and the client wants to hire her. If they see that kind of disorganization they can pretty much win the bet that she is not going to be so careful with them. In a business, disorganization wastes time and money. Her mom is not doing her any favors!
The school issue is a whole other problem and the only issue they should have with it is that their daughter actually learns something and passes. If they have a problem with the school either seek the other parents and the school board to change it, teach the child what YOU want on your time at home after school, pay for private schooling, or take the child out and homeschool. There are choices.
My kid used to want to be disorganized/lazy. He got sick of turning off his video game or missing the next sport's play to go back to pick up/clean up a mess he didn't want to deal with in the first place. I am his parent, not his slave.
I thought a messy room (not a health hazard, just messy) was not worth fighting over when my kids were teens in the 1970's. I saved my "mom rules" bit for things like keeping grades up, curfews, getting tattoos (NO), obeying car rules, etc. Their room, clothes (as long as they were decent and clean) and hair were their choice. Clothes get discarded, purple hair grows out and the funniest of all is that my kids, as adults are better housekeepers than I am! I just told them it was their territory, keep the door closed, if the dirty clothes didn't make it to the downstairs hamper, they didn't get washed. With teenagers, pick out what is important and what is not, then put your emphasis on the important things.