Mom of Teens: Creative communication

According to my daughters, they suffer from an extreme case of memory loss. I call it selective amnesia since they mostly “forget” things related to doing chores or straightening up the downstairs in our home. I can’t count the number of times we’ve had the following conversation.

Our downstairs is one big open area. The only closed portion is the half bathroom, which serves as the guest bath. But they leave items in there as well. There are several excuses, I mean reasons, why their stuff is always downstairs. First, they do their homework at the dining room table. Second, one of our computers and one TV are also downstairs, so it makes for a “convenient” area to just drop your stuff and get into your evening. However, it's frustrating to walk in after a long day at work and see their stuff scattered all over. What if someone stopped by? That’s not how I want people to be greeted when they step inside my home.

I arrived home on Friday to nothing. No clothes, shoes, brushes, purses or socks. That made me very happy. It was the same message they’d heard over and over. The only difference was the way it was delivered. Was it effective? Absolutely!

What was the lesson here? Sometimes we need to get a little creative if we want to get through to our teenagers. When the old ways stop working, spend a little time figuring out a new way to communicate your message. It might prove to be well worth your time!