Thursday, April 22, 2004

Nothing is where it is supposed to be!

Laundry baskets in the kids room, a hamper tossed on its side in the hall, an empty flower pot under the chair, napkins on the floor, the shoe bin stuck between the chair and the coffee table, bed pillows thrown in the hallway, cups tossed on the bathroom floor, blankets on the floor, the vacuum cleaner drug into the middle of the room and knocked over, clean (and formerly folded) laundry tossed about the room, rocks torn off of the box, flowers picked and tossed on the floor, entire rolls of toiletpaper tossed into the bathtub, corndog sticks under the table, kleenex boxes stomped on and thrown under the couch, fans knocked over, toilet paper strewn all over the floor, lamps knocked over, garbage cans knocked over, Pringles cans under the couch, bath towels completely soaked and laying on the floor, a cookie package under the bed, their brother's toothbrush thrown behind the toilet, toothpaste and soap squeezed all over the sink...the list goes on and on...and that's just from today!

P & D (especially P) simply don't play by the same rules as the other kids I've known. I don't know how to instill in them any respect for other people's belongings. When you're raised in an absolute disaster area for the first several years of your life, how are you supposed to learn what is expected? How are you supposed to understand that some things just aren't to be played with?

I don't know what to do about this, and it's driving me nuts. I have to stop and consider the way they lived before I go insane and ground them for the next eighty-three years. They lived in utter chaos - there wasn't even a garbage can to be found in their home. They routinely threw food and other garbage on the floor. There were a couple of plastic tubs for their toys to go in, but I never saw them used. They lived with a crumbling ceiling in their bedroom - and the crumbles on their floor. They simply don't know how to respect property, because they weren't shown when they were younger.

I try to pick my battles. I really do. A few missing laundry baskets are no big deal in the scheme of things. But when it takes me an hour to find all of the laundry baskets, hampers, and garbage cans because they've run off with them, it really ticks me off. The five of us are trying to live in just over a thousand square feet of apartment. If the everyday things are in their place, it's pretty darn tolerable. And that's even if the kids have a few toys strewn throughout the house. But when all of the everyday things are everywhere, there's simply nowhere to walk, and I'm getting sick of it.

Any ideas?

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