ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Things are changing here at the house.

Last night I had a little talk with the kids. Working outside the home definitely has its disadvantages (but as I have written before, until we are out of debt, at least much of our debt, I have to do it. ah, how hindsight is 20/20). Randy's mom worked full-time when he was a teenager. Mine did not. She worked part-time during the school year. After I was old enough to work, she worked more, but I don't remember how many hours. Anyway, because of this Randy & I have different theories on what the kids should be expected to do.

Summer days for me typically began before 10 a.m. & usually by 9. My mom would come in my room & wake me up! I remember asking, "Why do I have to get up? We're not doing anything today." Her reply: "Because you're not lying in the bed all day." Sometimes summer days were long & boring, but I had to get up anyway. My mom didn't make me do a lot of chores (which was bad for me in the long run) which might've kept me busier. But I had to keep myself entertained. Occasionally we'd go swimming, or play at a friend's house, or go to the library.

I don't know what time Randy usually got up, but evidently it was okay to stay up late & sleep all day. I imagine staying up late meant playing with the Atari or the brand-new VCR (I don't know about Randy's parents, but I remember people paying $800 for those. Can you imagine?).

My kids have all those things - well, videogames, DVD players, etc. - but they want to stay up ALL night & sleep until I get off work. I don't like this idea. So I discuss this with co-workers. Oh, BAD answer. Of course, I have condemned my children to eternal damnation & there is no fixing the situation, if I believe them. (And I wonder why I've been looking around for other options.) So I feel worse about working. Well, I discuss this with Randy. He goes off. "You can't tell the kids this! They will rebel!"

So there I am. Kids who go wild & a husband who won't let me stop them. I manage to convince him that I'm not going to yell at them or demand too much. He brings the kids into the room & we both tell them this. So we will see how things go.

ADVICE TO THE YOUNG: Don't have kids when you're in debt. Better yet, don't go into debt.