Parents, especially single parents of teenage boys, often find themselves wishing that they could afford a maid service. Because most people cannot afford such a luxury, however, many parents find themselves engaged in a constant battle with their teenagers to maintain home organization and participate in house cleaning activities.
Even when parents lay a solid foundation for children when they are young about how the house is to be kept and what is expected of them, something happens when those same, formerly neat and tidy children reach their teen years. Suddenly, particularly with boys, that same child who used to put his toys away neatly cannot seem to locate a laundry basket two feet away from him.
Create Fail-Safe Methods
Setting up organizational systems that allow little room for failure can go a long way to reducing house-cleaning battles. For instance, in the laundry room, set up laundry baskets on wheels and mark them with a permanent marker to show which basket each category of dirty clothing goes into (e.g., whites, darks, jeans, towels, etc.). When the laundry situation becomes intolerable, go on strike. Teenagers are more likely to address their dirty clothes when they are out of clean underwear.
Parents who simply refuse to complete some tasks can make a bold statement to their children, as well. Rather than sorting and mating socks, purchase a small laundry basket into which all the clean socks are dumped. Let the kids dig through them to find a matching pair and to gain an appreciation of the fact that socks do not magically match themselves in the dryer.
Mete Out Discipline and Mean It
One of the most difficult challenges parents ever face is disciplining their child. It is more work to stand behind the threat of removing privileges than to allow kids to have their way. It is, however, also one of the most critical parts of parenting.
Taking care to only threaten disciplinary measures that can be achieved can help to lessen consequences for the parent, and following through on threats is imperative to providing a firm foundation for a teenager to get the message. When teens are told that they will have their driving privileges revoked for a week, it is important that the parents consider whether they will ask that child to run an errand for them during that week. If that is going to be necessary, then another disciplinary measure should be considered.
Finally, using a creative approach to find ways to deal with home organization, house cleaning and teenagers can sometimes garner better results. There are times when the silliest solution (such as placing large poster-sized reminders all over the house) will be the one that finally motivates teens to do what they are expected to do around the house.
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