Teenagers And Responsibility

Last Updated on July 28, 2022 by Ellen Christian

As the mom of two teenagers, I often wonder if I have totally missed the mark in teaching mine about responsibility.  Most of the time, their bedrooms look like miniature cyclones have just finished blowing through.  There are clothes all over the floor, half empty soda cans on their desks, and piles of papers and magazines on the floor.  I’m not exactly sure when their rooms went from fairly organized, clean places for them to hang out to disorganized chaos.  When they were little, I regularly cleaned their rooms as part of my weekly housework.  As they got older, I expected them to keep up with it but that never happened.

Teenagers And Responsibility

Is it possible for teenagers and responsibility to go hand in hand? All I really expect the kids to do around the house is keep their rooms relatively neat and clean. They do not receive an allowance so I cannot bribe them into doing this. I feel that they live in our home and it’s their responsibility to contribute by taking care of things they are responsible for. One of the best ways to teach your teenagers about responsibility is to let them experience the consequences of their behavior. If they do not put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, their clothes will not be clean when they want them. If they leave their ear buds on the floor and the cat chews them in half, they will not have a pair any longer.

My son is notorious for not paying attention to what he’s doing.  Part of his ADHD is acting without thinking.  He typically gets home from school and does what I’ve termed the *teenager toss* which means the jacket, backpack and sports things get tossed randomly wherever he wants.  Sometimes this is on the kitchen table.  Sometimes it is in a corner of his room.  Sometimes it is in the middle of the living room floor.  This tossing without thinking has resulted in spilled glasses, spilled water bowls for the cats, and general chaos. I cannot tell you the ick he has created by doing this.  One of the ways that you can deal with teenagers and responsibility for their behavior is by having them clean up any ick they’ve created the next time they do the teenager toss.

If you have a neat term that you made up to describe the messes your kids make – like my teenager toss – you will want to check out the new online Clorox Ick-tionary, the hilarious dictionary of messes. The Clorox Ick-tionary captures the icky every-day situations that everyone can relate to; from the unpleasantness of poop and pee to things like applesauce on the ceiling.  Check out  www.icktionary.com to laugh, commiserate and resolve some of these messes and see how Clorox cleaning and laundry products can help turn a lot of these ep-ick disasters into cleaning wins.  You can also receive a coupon for 75 cents off any Clorox product, while supplies last. Interact with the words and play fun games for the chance to win a $25 prize.

You may want to take time and talk to your teens about social media FOMO.

• Fun sports activities for teenagers and tweens

Ellen Christian

Ellen is a busy mom of a 24-year-old son and 29-year-old daughter. She owns six blogs and is addicted to social media. She believes that it doesn’t have to be difficult to lead a healthy life. She shares simple healthy living tips to show busy women how to lead fulfilling lives. If you’d like to work together, email info@confessionsofanover-workedmom.com to chat.