After two days, the kids got a little more comfortable with me and they started doing their own thing - like leaving their dishes everywhere, eating a bunch of crap, and playing their music as loud as they could. That 's when I knew that I needed to be the adult in the house and make sure they didn 't get away with anything that they shouldn 't.
I sent out a request for some advice, and I got some that helped me become the person in charge that I needed to be.
The first bit of advice I got was from Phil:
Talk with them. Your rules will be different from the ones they had at home, and they will only know your rules if you tell them. Even then telling them won 't work. They need to understand the reasons for any differences. Teenagers …show more content…
"You don 't talk to me with disrespect, as if it is a huge pain to be having to communicate with me, and you don 't swear in my presence. You respect me, and I 'll respect you. I 'll treat you the age you act, so act as grown up as you want to be treated."
If all this seems a little harsh, you also have to be willing to show flexibility if something truly was not their fault or was beyond their control, because they are not kids anymore than they are adults yet.
Will all this work? Sometimes. :-)
The advice that they are not kids anymore, but not really adults, really hit home. I had to put myself in their shoes, understand that what I know about life, respect, cleaning, etc., is not something they understand yet - and they are just trying to the best that they can do as not kids, but not adults.
It helped me be a little easier on the youngest one whose whole life shattered when she had to do the dishes after she made a mess. A little, not totally.
Kids Get REALLY Comfortable With Me
After 7 days, the kids got very comfortable with me and started pushing the limits. Mostly the youngest one.
She talked back to