Uh, getting me mam to meet halfway, anyone, please?

Page 1 of 2 [ 19 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 7:34 pm

Warning: rather teenaged.

The other week I asked my parents where my work shirt was for the shift the next day, and my mom went spare, and later started bellowing sporadically. Since I've gotten the picture that she's just refusing to wash my clothes as the linning basket overflows.
Since I have been increasingly nice and more talkative to her than ever, kowtowing and that. Last night I told her how much I appreciate her work around the house and got a dismissive grunt. I've been trying to meet halfway with no avail. What's more, for some reason she's not even washing my brother and sister's clothes, and they're down to their last pairs too. Apparently she'd told them that they just take it for granted, though it's frankly f*****g clear that they actually are. This is my fourth day in this pair of boxers. My appeasement behaviour is displayed increasingly through my teeth.
From experience, she is one of the least rational people I've met. Not even facts seem to shift her, and she has irrational hatred of so much. She also has the tendency to view us as the lowest offspring lifeforms on the planet and seems to have this utopian view of me having to be a fish-eating avid Archers fan who sketches pictures of blue tits, or what have you.

Now, I know that the first responses I'd get if I don't make this clear would be so: to do my own cleaning, but I disagree. I am in full-time education taking the sciences, sometimes get home on weekdays after 9pm, and have interests, exploits and work outside that. Plus, putting the toys back in the pram will only fuel her insane stream of irrationality.

This abject lack of logic really upsets me as I try to work my head around it self-destructively, and am feeling less and less hygienic. I can't seem to find solutions to it myself and it's making me very counterproductive.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks.



Marcia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,148

20 Feb 2009, 8:06 pm

Advice: Do your own laundry!



KaliMa
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Feb 2007
Age: 65
Gender: Female
Posts: 960
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

20 Feb 2009, 8:09 pm

If you gather your dirty clothes into a dark colored pile and a light colored pile, that takes about 10 minutes. Then the way I do it is I start the washer right before going to bed and leave them wet in the washer overnight. When I wake up I toss the clothes into the dryer. In about 30-40 minutes (time for breakfast & a shower) I have clean dry clothes.

Doing the wash overnight while you sleep may mean your mom won't realize you're doing your own laundry (and so won't try to dump more of her job on you), assuming you can figure out how to make the washer work without asking her - maybe ask a friend's mom to show you how it's done? Maybe your grandmother? Of course you'll have to sneak your clothes back to your room and lay them fairly flat on the bed so they don't wrinkle before you get home from school and can spend half an hour folding them. Maybe you should do small loads to keep folding time to a minimum.

I am sorry, however, to hear your mother is being so difficult. My mother went on strike when I was nine and my brother was eight. It was very selfish and lazy of her - she hadn't shown either of us how to cook, so we lived on cold cereal and peanut butter toast til my grandmother found out what was going on and taught us to fend for ourselves. My mother used to cook and eat her own meals right in front of us without offering to give her own children anything. Luckily she chose to sleep late every day and watch tv til time to go to bed so it was easy to hide how much we could do for ourselves.

Good luck! Sorry I can't answer your request, but I have no idea how to get that lazy b*tch to meet you halfway. Kowtowing, as youve seen, only makes them more sure they're in the right. She really should have thought about the work of taking care of children before she chose to have them. My mother threw so many tantrums over being "stuck with you g*ddamned kids" that both my brother and I have never considered becoming parents.


_________________
"I yam what I yam." - Popeye the Sailor

Avatar from www.freesmileys.org


Marcia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,148

20 Feb 2009, 8:30 pm

KaliMa, what your mother did, or rather didn't do, for your and your brother constituted neglect. I'm sorry she didn't care for you as she should have done.

The OP is not 9 years old, he is 17 years old. He is perfectly capable of doing his own laundry, and I really don't consider it to be his mother's job to do that. I do my son's laundry because he is 7 years old. I do not expect to be doing his laundry as a matter of course in 10 year's time.

Being in full-time education and having other interests and exploits in addition, doesn't mean that he can't launder his own clothes. He's not a child, he's a young man.



Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 8:35 pm

KaliMa wrote:
If you gather your dirty clothes into a dark colored pile and a light colored pile, that takes about 10 minutes. Then the way I do it is I start the washer right before going to bed and leave them wet in the washer overnight. When I wake up I toss the clothes into the dryer. In about 30-40 minutes (time for breakfast & a shower) I have clean dry clothes.

Doing the wash overnight while you sleep may mean your mom won't realize you're doing your own laundry (and so won't try to dump more of her job on you), assuming you can figure out how to make the washer work without asking her - maybe ask a friend's mom to show you how it's done? Maybe your grandmother? Of course you'll have to sneak your clothes back to your room and lay them fairly flat on the bed so they don't wrinkle before you get home from school and can spend half an hour folding them. Maybe you should do small loads to keep folding time to a minimum.

I am sorry, however, to hear your mother is being so difficult. My mother went on strike when I was nine and my brother was eight. It was very selfish and lazy of her - she hadn't shown either of us how to cook, so we lived on cold cereal and peanut butter toast til my grandmother found out what was going on and taught us to fend for ourselves. My mother used to cook and eat her own meals right in front of us without offering to give her own children anything. Luckily she chose to sleep late every day and watch tv til time to go to bed so it was easy to hide how much we could do for ourselves.

Good luck! Sorry I can't answer your request, but I have no idea how to get that lazy b*tch to meet you halfway. Kowtowing, as youve seen, only makes them more sure they're in the right. She really should have thought about the work of taking care of children before she chose to have them. My mother threw so many tantrums over being "stuck with you g*ddamned kids" that both my brother and I have never considered becoming parents.


It's very heartening to see how well you managed and coped and have turned out with it. Thank you.

I'll have to accept for washing a few days. Questions: I'm separating blacks from coloureds, am I right? Also, what to do with wool, et cetera?

Hopefully she'll soon realise the aspect that distinguishes us from other primates: our ability to reason and be beyond such pettiness.



Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 8:42 pm

Marcia wrote:
KaliMa, what your mother did, or rather didn't do, for your and your brother constituted neglect. I'm sorry she didn't care for you as she should have done.

The OP is not 9 years old, he is 17 years old. He is perfectly capable of doing his own laundry, and I really don't consider it to be his mother's job to do that. I do my son's laundry because he is 7 years old. I do not expect to be doing his laundry as a matter of course in 10 year's time.

Being in full-time education and having other interests and exploits in addition, doesn't mean that he can't launder his own clothes. He's not a child, he's a young man.


Nah, you lost me. Hours in the day are the reason I don't take up even more in life, and capable people all need to pull their weight in a harmonious household. Were she to have dropped a responsibility in such an oppugnant way in the real world she would have lost her job. Succumbing will be seen to her as an award for whatever neurosis she's flirting with too, as I've experienced so much in other situations lately, and brings no resolve.



Marcia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,148

20 Feb 2009, 8:45 pm

Who would do your laundry if you didn't stay at home?



Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 8:47 pm

Provided I have the equipment, myself.

Edit: I see where your going, but this fails to address and tackle my mom's rampant petulance, pedantry and increasing hostility she is brewing within the family, and segregating our activities, nor does it balance out the workforce. Being capable of doing something doesn't make it your obligation: my father could be made to do my brother's coursework; my sister could be made to redecorate a room. Doesn't necessarily make sense



Marcia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,148

20 Feb 2009, 9:11 pm

You seem to see your mother only as someone who is there to take care of your needs. She is a person in her own right, and maybe you should spend less time being petulant about the fact that you are wearing dirty boxer shorts and more time thinking about why she is behaving the way she is.

I really don't think it's unreasonable that you do your own laundry. Something quite simple and straightforward seems to have become an insurmountable obstacle.

Your mother sounds stressed and unhappy.



GoatOnFire
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,986
Location: Den of the ecdysiasts

20 Feb 2009, 9:11 pm

Aalto wrote:
From experience, she is one of the least rational people I've met. Not even facts seem to shift her, and she has irrational hatred of so much.


Of course she's irrational, she's a woman. :twisted:

Okay that was a teensy bit sexist. Shame on me. Bad goat.

If you have more than one suitable suit, then if you can find something that smells horrible, maybe splash it on right before you head home. You can shower the stench off, but leave the contaminated suit in the basket so your mother can enjoy the aroma while you are away and see how long she holds out.

Remain complimentary to her, though. This is likely because she is feeling unappreciated. Anything she does for you, no matter how small thank her for.


_________________
I will befriend the friendless, help the helpless, and defeat... the feetless?


Marcia
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,148

20 Feb 2009, 9:15 pm

Ha!

If anyone tried the smelly suit stunt on me, I'd solve that by simply throwing the contaminated clothing out. If I was feeling generous, I might just put in on his bed. :wink:

But, that might just be me being irrational, being a woman. :roll:



Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 9:30 pm

Marcia wrote:
You seem to see your mother only as someone who is there to take care of your needs. She is a person in her own right, and maybe you should spend less time being petulant about the fact that you are wearing dirty boxer shorts and more time thinking about why she is behaving the way she is.

I really don't think it's unreasonable that you do your own laundry. Something quite simple and straightforward seems to have become an insurmountable obstacle.

Your mother sounds stressed and unhappy.


She's behaving as she always has. No difference, she doesn't go about like a wet weekend. She is as ever, only more susceptible, eager not to listen, misinterpret things and generally estrange things. Other than that she's retained the demeanour around everything else that she's always had. And you're still avoiding my point of how she's being troublesome and seeing what she can get away with. It's more of her being someone trying to make lives lived separately under one roof than me being her dependent, as as it is I am doing a whole lot for myself that she wouldn't care less about.



GoatOnFire
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,986
Location: Den of the ecdysiasts

20 Feb 2009, 9:57 pm

Marcia wrote:
Ha!

If anyone tried the smelly suit stunt on me, I'd solve that by simply throwing the contaminated clothing out. If I was feeling generous, I might just put in on his bed.

But, that might just be me being irrational, being a woman.


Yep, pretty much. :P

Oh wait, that was sexist, too. 8O Very bad goat. I should have said that mainly middle aged women with kids are the most irrat... wait that would still be s..., never mind.

The contamination would spread through most of the clothes in the basket. Depending on the house, she also might be able to smell it on his bed. (It would probably be wise to have one or two suits in reserve out of the basket.) She would have to be seriously tripping on her period to throw that many out. Dammit, that was sexist, too. At this rate they'll force me into sensitivity training :x

With irrational behavior like this it will be very difficult to get her to change her course. You will probably have to start doing some laundry. If she is doing this for the attention, it will chagrin her if you start doing it yourself and start behaving more coldly towards her. It doesn't take very long to put clothes in the washer. Leave them in there all night. If she is annoyed explain that you do not have time to spend 30+ minutes waiting to put them in the dryer.


_________________
I will befriend the friendless, help the helpless, and defeat... the feetless?


Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 10:10 pm

Thanks. She usually cracks out of this after some sycophancy. Hopefully it will go some way to sorting this out.



Aalto
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 392
Location: W. Yorks, UK

20 Feb 2009, 11:01 pm

Woo, the machine stopped! The paler socks still have a yellowish look to them but on the whole I've got a clump of wet, scrumpled but hopefully wearable items which aren't in a mish mash. I'll leave them to dry and czech later when I wake up.



KaliMa
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Feb 2007
Age: 65
Gender: Female
Posts: 960
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

20 Feb 2009, 11:16 pm

Marcia wrote:
KaliMa, what your mother did, or rather didn't do, for your and your brother constituted neglect. I'm sorry she didn't care for you as she should have done.

The OP is not 9 years old, he is 17 years old. He is perfectly capable of doing his own laundry, and I really don't consider it to be his mother's job to do that. I do my son's laundry because he is 7 years old. I do not expect to be doing his laundry as a matter of course in 10 year's time.

Being in full-time education and having other interests and exploits in addition, doesn't mean that he can't launder his own clothes. He's not a child, he's a young man.


Thank you for saying my mother was wrong but I disagree with you about the OP's mother. Her job is to teach him to be self-sufficient. She accepted that job when she chose to have him and his siblings. She should have taught them all how to do their own laundry/cooking/etc instead of throwing a tantrum and going on strike as she has. She should have calmly told them she wasn't going to do the laundry anymore, and spent a few hours one weekend showing them how to sort laundry, run the washer, etc. It was wrong to spring this on them with no preparation.

Oh, and Marcia, thanks for not jumping on me for being so emotional in my response. This one kind of hit a nerve with me and I appreciate your ignoring my outburst and just responding rationally.


_________________
"I yam what I yam." - Popeye the Sailor

Avatar from www.freesmileys.org


Last edited by KaliMa on 20 Feb 2009, 11:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.