Teenagers!! Lazy or Correct re shutting coop door nightly

[rides2far]

My parents never paid us for chores. We didn't get an allowance. They didn't pay for an A in school. When I excitedly asked my parents about these wonderful ideas, they set me straight. 1.). My mother did not get paid to clean the house, cook for us, do our laundry, or transport us to our many activities. 2.). We did not get good grades for $, we did it because we were supposed to have pride in a job well done. 3.) My parents bought us anything we needed within reason, so an allowance was not necessary. They told us why should we pay you to do what you're supposed to do. I guess my parents were old fashioned & harda#*ed. We raised our kids the same way. We all worked during high school & college so we'd have our own $. I'd tell your son to do things your way "Because I said so."

 

[rides2far]

Forgot to add: in case I sound superior, we went on vacation leaving 2 college age sons at home. They fed the cats & cleaned the cat box. They fed the dogs & picked up poop. They fed the parrot & cleaned the cage. They only forgot one teeny thing - my parakeet. He was DOA when we got home they had forgotten him. (The dishwasher was humming, the carpet was freshly done, & the trash was out - we knew that had all been taken care of the day we got home not before! LOL).

 

[ConPollos]

Don't trust the kid, it's not fair to the animals; and they will suffer terribly because he will not be reliable.

 

[rides2far]

Our horror story is paying our neighbor's daughter to take care of our place while we were back East visiting family. We paid her $100/week. We came home to starved FFA lambs, a dead lawn, 2 dogs in a backyard with no water (in 100 degree heat), hamsters in wrong cages, & dirty cat boxes. Within a few days we realized our ancient dog was being shocked by lamp wires when she would lay down. The hamsters had obvously been loose in the house & had chewed up the cords on lamps. Our house could have burned down. This was a supposed responsible high school senior who had pets of her own & was in FFA with a lamb project. Ha.

 

[aart]

Our horror story is paying our neighbor's daughter to take care of our place while we were back East visiting family. We paid her $100/week. We came home to starved FFA lambs, a dead lawn, 2 dogs in a backyard with no water (in 100 degree heat), hamsters in wrong cages, & dirty cat boxes. Within a few days we realized our ancient dog was being shocked by lamp wires when she would lay down. The hamsters had obvously been loose in the house & had chewed up the cords on lamps. Our house could have burned down. This was a supposed responsible high school senior who had pets of her own & was in FFA with a lamb project. Ha.

I hope she didn't get all, or had to return some of, those wages.

My impression of FFA is they learn to negotiate/solicit for inflated livestock prices(if their parents don't do it for them) more than learning true responsibility.

 

[mirandaleecon]

Our horror story is paying our neighbor's daughter to take care of our place while we were back East visiting family. We paid her $100/week. We came home to starved FFA lambs, a dead lawn, 2 dogs in a backyard with no water (in 100 degree heat), hamsters in wrong cages, & dirty cat boxes. Within a few days we realized our ancient dog was being shocked by lamp wires when she would lay down. The hamsters had obvously been loose in the house & had chewed up the cords on lamps. Our house could have burned down. This was a supposed responsible high school senior who had pets of her own & was in FFA with a lamb project. Ha.

I had asked a neighbor to watch my two parrots and two cats. I assumed he would do a good job since I had watched his dog several times and we were in an apartment complex, so he only had to take 10 steps to get to my door. Came home to two dehydrated birds, one drank water until I took it back out because he was throwing up. Had to give him just a little bit at a time until he realized he wasn't going to die. My cats were fine but only because they chewed a hole in their food bag and drank out of the toilet. I have never been so angry and felt so guilty in my life. Needless to say, I will never let someone watch my animals again unless I trust them 100%. My plan the next time I go out of town is to have a *responsible* friend do the door opening/closing/feeding and then have another person swing by just to check that everything is going well. That way, if one falls through, the other can pick up the slack...And I will pay whoever does it, AFTER I get home and everyone is still in good health.

As far as predators, they might not figure it out right away, but eventually they will realize that there is food, unprotected, right through that open door...

 

[amiachicknorwat]

Wow, thanks all. First, it's not my kid, but the youngest of 3 of my partner's, the only one still living at home, with 1 yr of high school left. The kids have done a relatively fair job in past, but this is first time it all falls on the youngest. Our approach towards leaving has strengthened the rapport I have with him, which wasn't very good prior. I do have a responsible neighbour friends nearby to back up where the boy falls short. Thanks again, and good luck to us all in enjoying our needed breaks. Bests, Nick

 

[rides2far]

I hope she didn't get all, or had to return some of, those wages.

My impression of FFA is they learn to negotiate/solicit for inflated livestock prices(if their parents don't do it for them) more than learning true responsibility. 

Our FFA program was great. I did have to help the boys at first, since they knew nothing about livestock. I also had to drive them to the high school farm since they were too young to drive. I'd say it was great for them. They had to feed, clean, walk, & take care of the sheep. I did the shots for them & paid for feed the 1st year. My boys learned how hard it is to sell your lamb. We also ended up with several ewes & raised babies. I will say that spending 9 years in 4-H, the FFA program wasn't on the same level, at least in my case. I had beef & horses in 4-H, beef & swine in FFA. Aart, we never told the girl's parents what a bad job she had done. They were neighbors & friends & we just didn't want to ruin a friendship.

 

[lazy gardener]

Our FFA program was great. I did have to help the boys at first, since they knew nothing about livestock. I also had to drive them to the high school farm since they were too young to drive. I'd say it was great for them. They had to feed, clean, walk, & take care of the sheep. I did the shots for them & paid for feed the 1st year. My boys learned how hard it is to sell your lamb. We also ended up with several ewes & raised babies. I will say that spending 9 years in 4-H, the FFA program wasn't on the same level, at least in my case. I had beef & horses in 4-H, beef & swine in FFA. Aart, we never told the girl's parents what a bad job she had done. They were neighbors & friends & we just didn't want to ruin a friendship.

I've been in similar circumstances with jobs poorly done, but in this case it was a teenage babysitter for my children. This girl did not have a clue, and nearly burned my house down making popcorn in my PRESSURE COOKER! I also did not speak to the parents, just never hired her again. Looking back on this situation, if faced with it again, I'd tell the parents in a heart beat. If parents are not told when their children mess up, they'll never know where training needs to be improved upon.

 

[aart]

Quote: I'm sure not all 4h and/or FFA participants are involved in what I observed.

I think teaching accountability is an important part of a mentorship.
Hiding/concealing/excusing a young persons failures is condoning a lack of responsibility and doing them no favors at all.
I don't know how old this girl is, but she shouldn't have been paid for a job so poorly done and should have been expected to 'own up' to it.