Do you ever have those afternoons where you want to poke out your eyeballs because your kids are driving you nuts? Well a certain 10 yr. old likes to argue with me. First of all I was nice enough to watch an episode of "Clean House" with him after school. This is a new favorite. They go into houses that are out of control with clutter, clean it all out, have a yard sale and use the money to re-do the inside. Anyway, afterward he was asking me what he should do. They don't have school tomorrow so he didn't have homework. I told him he should do his job, which is dishes this week. He was so annoyed. I reminded him that it involved loading and unloading. That made him freak out even more. He started whining about how he has so much to do and it would take him all night (this was a page right out of JP's book). So he proceeds to tell me that he has so many things that he's supposed to do, like go to school for 7 hours everyday and homework and chores. That put me over the edge. I asked him, "Really? You have so much to do? What about me? I do laundry, iron, cook, clean the bathrooms when you pee on the floor, vaccum, sweep." I forgot to mention helping him with his homework and driving him to his sports things. He contined to argue with me that his job was just as hard and that school was a waste of his time. That's when I started to say over and over "I'm not going to argue with you about it anymore." He kept on, but I couldn't hear anymore because I did that thing where you plug your ears when you're a kid and say "na na na na... I can't hear you." I know-real mature-but sometimes you have to sink to their level. So he finally did it and then asked me what he could do again and I realized he hadn't put the clean dishes away, so I told him to do that. His exact words, "You're kidding me!" Later, I was having a shower and he came in asking what he could do. I gave him several suggestions. After raining all morning it actually got nice out so I first suggested going outside, play a game, draw a picture, watch cartoons. None of these were ideas he liked. He actually even said the words, "Mom, entertain me." Like I have all afternoon to sing and dance for him. I have laundry to do and sweeping and dinner. Needless to say, I felt like poking my eyeballs out. While I was having my shower he had first asked me, "Mom are you having a break?" I giggled at that because whenever I have a shower in the late afternoon it's usually because I need a "break." It's my way to de-stress. My neighbor's husband told me once that he would come home from work sometimes and ask the kids where mom was and they'd answer, "She's in her bathroom crying." So at least I'm not alone.