Friday, 22 December 2017

my teenager is a filthy slob


I have a 16 year old who is a decent kid but is lazy and a total slob. I'm seriously talking like hoarding, dirty behavior - not clutter. There's clutter and dirty clothes too, but I can deal with that. He leaves trash around room, food, banana peels, dirty dishes, used q-tips, bathroom is like a porta potty that hasn't been emptied or cleaned in weeks. He often won't do laundry for weeks on end. We will even do his laundry for him if he gets it ready for us, but we will not fold or put it away. I feel this is something that a 16 year old should be able to do himself. He doesn't have a lot of extracurricular activities so it's not like he's so busy that he can't spend some time keeping his room clean.For the most part, apart from the actual filth, I can handle the messy room. I know I kept a messy room when I was a teenager, but I did get a hankering to spend a few hours cleaning a couple of times a month and this is something that he does not do unless forced. I can't believe he actually takes friends into the pigsty.The biggest issue is that the room is shared with a step sibling who is 11 about 10 days per month. The step sibling is a bit OCD and germaphobe and it is becoming a real, real issue. I can usually get him to get it at least somewhat clean before he comes over, but lately it has been really problematic to the point where the step sibling is crying when he goes back home because the room is so gross. Nothing really seems to get through to him to keep it at least a little bit presentable. Ideally we'd have another room for the other child, but unfortunately that isn't the case and will not be the case anytime soon.I'm seriously getting concerned about roachess or ants in addition to the issue with keeping my stepson comfortable when he's with us and it's really starting to piss my husband off. Nothing seems to work in terms of punishment. He also doesn't do chores around the house, and hasn't for months, so I cut his allowance but he doesn't seem to care. I don't think he's depressed, he's otherwise fairly normal and active and for money, he just waits to get money for birthdays/Christmas from relatives and tries to stretch it out or will do one-offs like picking up dog poop or raking a neighbor's lawn to earn 5 bucks here and there.In the past 2 years, 4 or 5 times my husband and I have gotten fed up enough to the point where we will take an entire day purging, deep cleaning, and straightening the room. He will keep it this way for a couple of weeks and it will slip right back into looking like a dumpster. The rest of the house is not like this and I don't understand how I've managed to raise him to be such a slob.Any advice? What am I doing wrong? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2C0JT0k

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