Have you
ever asked your child to do something only to discover you didn’t give clear
directions? What I wanted from my teen son was deep cleaning, what he displayed
was surface cleaning.
I may not
have discovered my son’s cleaning habits if it had not been for the fact that
he was rushing through the job. And the reason he rushed…because he had procrastinated
until the stakes were high. There was something he wanted to do and the
requirement was that his chores had to be completed first.
My son had
the opportunity to earn money working with my brother. I wanted him to work
with my brother for the experience and so he could buy the expensive gadgets he
wanted without me having to pay for them. The night before my son was scheduled
to work with my brother, he began a rush job on cleaning the bathroom.
When I
looked in on my son during his cleaning, I witnessed him pulling one Lysol wipe
after another from the plastic container. He was cleaning the sink and counter
top with the wipes, using only his fingertips as he swirled the cloth across
the counter.
When he was
done, the empty container remained tilted on its side displaced in the
bathroom. The bathroom mirror remained uncleaned and the floor had trash swept
into a pile, but not picked up. I didn’t think I needed to spell out every
cleaning detail.
This Is my
diehard football player, who is committed to a regular workout regime, who
refuses to miss a practice or workout session. He will get down and dirty on
the football field, but does not want to touch a wet cleaning cloth. Perhaps if
I used football terms my son’s cleaning task would go a little more smoothly.
Next time I
will tell my son, “You need to tackle the
bathroom. Once you’ve cleaned the sink and the tub you are near the end zone.
And if you want to score a touchdown, get everything done without me asking
twice.”
I’ve come to
realize that sometimes you have to learn to speak the language of a teen.
Has your
child ever taken a cleaning shortcut?
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