Parents Go On Strike!!!!

[JP_1163]

If you wait until your children are 17 and 12 to teach them responsibility and the only means you have at your disposal is to walk out on them and live in the front yard then you have failed as an adult and as a parent. Children model what they see in the world around them. Obviously if cleanliness, orderliness and ethical behavior are deemed important in the makeup of a child then it is important that the parents model the same behavior themselves. What they are now teaching their children is that when faced with adversity or difficulty in life the easiest thing to do is walk away, pout, sulk and roast marshmallows on the front lawn. Good coping skills are not evident in anyone in this situation. What I'd suggest is a meeting with the parents and the children where expectations are explained, consequences are discussed and a mutual sense of shared purpose is expected of all parties in the family. I suppose that everyone can learn something from this but all I'm picking up is that parenting 101 was obviously not on the curriculum in anyone's school system whether today or yesterday.

[kpugh]

I'm a little disturbed by the fact that when asked about this the son's response was that it was an inconvenience to take the phone out to them. He clearly doesn't see the point and/or doesn't care. (Either that, or they just didn't print that part of his response - entirely possible )

It's a shame that the parents let the children's laziness get to this point. Both of my parents worked so my brother and I were chipping in around the house for as long as I can rememeber. Starting off with small things like picking up our toys when we were younger then advancing to daily chores such as making dinner and doing laundry.

I agree with the principle of what the parents are doing, although it should never have even gotten to this point in the first place.

[greencactus3]

Originally Posted by Alaina

And doing dishes is so easy, especially since practically all dishwashers nowadays have garbage disposals built into them, so you don't even have to do any scrubbing.

are you serious? i guess ours is just old then ours you at least have to get sticky stuff off or itll stay on.

[MissInformation]

Originally Posted by JP_1163

If you wait until your children are 17 and 12 to teach them responsibility and the only means you have at your disposal is to walk out on them and live in the front yard then you have failed as an adult and as a parent. Children model what they see in the world around them. Obviously if cleanliness, orderliness and ethical behavior are deemed important in the makeup of a child then it is important that the parents model the same behavior themselves. What they are now teaching their children is that when faced with adversity or difficulty in life the easiest thing to do is walk away, pout, sulk and roast marshmallows on the front lawn. Good coping skills are not evident in anyone in this situation. What I'd suggest is a meeting with the parents and the children where expectations are explained, consequences are discussed and a mutual sense of shared purpose is expected of all parties in the family. I suppose that everyone can learn something from this but all I'm picking up is that parenting 101 was obviously not on the curriculum in anyone's school system whether today or yesterday.

Ouch, that seems a little harsh. I don't think the parents waited until now to teach the kids responsibility. Their son said it was inconvenient to take the phone out to them, but isn't the fact that he took it out to them at all a sign of responsibility?

Sure, they made a mistake in raising their kids, it seems like they didn't quite instill a desire to help out in their kids, however if you can show me one set of parents who are completely perfect, well, I still wouldn't believe they were perfect so it wouldn't matter anyhow. Parents are humans, they make mistakes. Personally, I think parenting is the hardest thing in the world to do.

My own opinion on the whole situation is that the strike is just a means of the parents to get their kids attention and that once they have their attention they will work something out. Sometimes doing something extreme is the only way to get through to people. And sometimes walking away is the right thing to do. It's certainly preferable to yelling and screaming at, or god forbid, beating a kid. A mature discussion would be great, but I remember myself at 17 and at 12 and rational thought was not always a part of my personality.

I think the worse thing this will do to these kids is embarrass them a bit in front of their friends (I also think a little bit of humility is good for people). I'm not a parent, and I would never claim to be an expert on parenting, I just wanted to throw out another view on the subject.

Heidi

[cavegirl47]

I think it's hilarious. I just now heard about it for the first time in your comment (I unfortunately do not pay much attention to the news). I don't know the details of the story; I don't know how much or how little the kids were doing around the house in way of chores. But I do think they should know how to do things on their own, like cook, clean, do laundry, wash dishes, etc., and they should help out sometimes, you know, keep a healthy balance.

I do think that the parents are smart in moving out to the lawn, because it attracts a LOT of attention, even bringing in the press and making it a national issue, and as we all know, us kids hate it when our parents do something embarrassing that attracts attention. This is probably a good wake up call for the kids. If they're like most anyone else, they'll think twice, offer to help around the house, and beg their parents to come back inside.

[Matt Attallah]

My question is...

Why did the adults kick themselves out? Put the kids in the tent and let them learn. (I'd allow them in for food/shower/ect...) but I wouldn't do their clothes/food/ect... for them.

And aty 17 and 12 - i'm sure they are more sufficent to take care of themselves...