Let's Take a Moment to Applaud this Mum and her Clever Contract for her Unappreciative Teen

Aaron Johnson is 13 years old and he’s pretty sure he’s got this whole ‘life’ thing figured out. Sure, his mum is the one that birthed him, raised him, clothed him and fed him for his entire life, but, meh, to a 13-year-old boy, that doesn’t seem to matter much.

Aaron’s 13-year-old attitude became a little too much for his loving mother, Heidi. Like all of us, she was over the whole ‘disrespect’ and entitlement of her son and decided to do something about it.

So off to his room she went where she stripped his room of a mattress, clothes and light bulbs. LOL!

She also took away her teen’s toys and access to the WiFi. Oh, the horror! On his door, she left this lovely note.

Heidi explains that her teen was being a bit of a turd the night before and that she was “done playing games and being a doormat”. If he’s going to keep the attitude up, he will need to pay rent, electricity and food. He can buy his own clothes, or rent his clothes for $3 a day, in addition to several other ‘adult’ chores.

Or… he can lose the attitude and “renegotiate his terms of being a child.”

How did it go?

We are happy to report that Aaron took the latter option and sat down with his mum to renegotiate being her son. He and Heidi amicably come up with a new mother/son agreement that benefits both parties.

And no, we’re not just talking about a verbal agreement here. They’ve got an actual contract addressing ALL the things.

Bedtime: 10pm weekdays. Midnight weekends. TICK.

Homework, jobs, chores and outside time BEFORE screens. TICK.

Mum gets to check over all homework to ensure it’s done correctly. TICK.

Family time is a must after dinner. TICK.

Attitude gone? TICK.

Swearing gone? TICK.

Using the word “no” gone? TICK

She’s even got a whole clause about what classifies as a bad attitude including, but not limited to, “saying or mumbling FuckIt, Fuck You, This is Bullshit, No, I Hate You, etc.”

Kudos Heidi!

We reckon every kid needs a little bit of tough love and, as a mum of a 12-year-old boy, I FEEL this in my bones.

Wi-Fi woes gone

In addition to the “this is bullshit” attitude, my son also often complains that he doesn’t want to come on our family outings with us. He’d rather stay home and play Playstation.

Fine by us. Stay home. Play Playstation.

Oh, except for one slight issue. We bring the Wi-Fi Modem with us on our family outings. GOOD LUCK PLAYING PLAYSTATION WITHOUT IT!

mum central — Our WiFi modem on one of our many family outings. Note the grumpy 12-year-old enjoying nature in the background.

Here’s a lovely snapshot of the modem enjoying a family day at the creek.

So happy to be outside.

So grateful to be included.

So well behaved.

And, when the WiFi modem comes with us, amazingly enough, my 12-year-old comes too. Go figure.

Messy room punishment

We’ve shared a few other “unconventional” ways to get through to our kids in the past. This mum had enough of her son not cleaning his room, especially after he rudely told her, “You clean it mummy.”

So she did and literally chucked EVERYTHING out except for a bed and a small kitchen.

Mind you, the little boy was only five years old and many commenters thought that the punishment was a little harsh for someone so young. What do you think?

Read it here.

Into the bin it goes

Another mum developed something called the “Fucket Bucket” which, essentially, is a coloured bucket that she keeps in the playroom.

Every child gets a different coloured bucket. If the kids leave their toys lying around during the day, they go in the bucket. If it’s still there by bedtime, it goes to the bin.

Because, as Jessica so eloquently puts it, “Fucket if I’m cleaning it up.”